Ok, I don't think this is copyright, but I have to share it with all of you because it is so important. I got it from www.quitsmokingonline.com and is something I discovered (I quit two weeks and two days ago).. I used to go outside for a smoke break. Now I can still go outside but I call it a 'break' - I stretch and breathe deep and feel good instead, so it's also a break, but healthier. Here is what John says,
For a lot of smokers, the strongest desire to smoke can come in the evening when they are alone. This is quite common, especially for women smokers.
Although it is common to both sexes, women seem to have a stronger ‘emotional’ attachment to smoking. In a strange way, it has become like an ‘old friend’. And in a way, this makes sense. No matter what happened to us in our lives, our cigarettes were always there and they SEEMED to be a great help. 'Our friends' were always there for us, it seemed. Yet if we LOOK DEEPER, we will discover the REAL TRUTH. During these occasions when we smoked, we ALLOWED ourselves, YES, WE ALLOWED OURSELVES to use smoking as an excuse to relax, to put aside our problems for just a moment and consider happier things! We relaxed! And of course, we felt relief. FOR THAT MOMENT, our problems were GONE as well as all the fear and anxiety we felt about that problem. We felt free, light and bright as if better things were possible. And of course, it felt great to get this ‘problem-free’ break. But we made a fatal mistake: We attributed the cause of this pleasure wholly to smoking. But remember last week's e-mail about the tea experiment: IT COULD JUST AS EASILY HAD BEEN A CUP OF TEA.
But we are convinced otherwise. We think our pleasure is DEPENDENT on the cigarette ---and so we are now feeling terrible because this prop is gone.
And so we believe our pleasure is GONE FOREVER. But…….it’s not.
It’s only an illusion. A false CONCLUSION. No more. The REAL pleasure was in you ALLOWING yourself to relax....to take a break.....not the smoking of the cigarette.You can be JUST AS HAPPY WITHOUT IT! In a few weeks time, as your body gets used to not smoking, you will EXPERIENCE this great truth for yourself. You will realize that you can still ENJOY everything that you now enjoying WITHOUT NEEDING TO SMOKE. EVERYTHING! Celebrate –you are free!
