The path to a tobacco-free life is a winding one, filled with emotional highs and lows. As one navigates this transition, it's typical to confront a spectrum of emotions, from guilt and grief to regret, resentment, shame, and vulnerability.
These emotions surface as you delve deeply, perhaps for the first time, into assessing the impact of tobacco not only on your own life but also on those closest to you. Experiencing such feelings is entirely normal and prevalent among individuals grappling with any form of substance abuse.
Despite their discomfort, these emotions can serve as guides, leading you towards changes that enhance your wellbeing. Consider this: What are your goals? What holds utmost importance in your life? And how can you initiate changes that support these objectives?
We tend to think of such emotions as sadness, anger, frustration, or guilt as “negative” because these indicate that you might not be okay in that moment. No one wants to not be okay; this is universally agreed upon. So, what are you going to do about it?
You dig deeper into that emotion and ask yourself “why?” The answer to this question is the driving fuel for change. It points to inconsistencies you might have between what you want to do and what you are currently doing. When these two things don’t align, we tend to sometimes glance over them and wait until we are pushed to take notice of this inconsistency.
For example: You want to reduce your smoking, but currently are not doing that; so, you have to face that fact and accept it, which can be uncomfortable. But once you accept it and realize how this is making you feel, you can use it to make changes that promote your wants and needs.
Change is difficult. It requires a lot of practice. It can be very frustrating at times. But it is all of these “negative” emotions along the way that help pave the way to a better you, a tobacco free you.
What are some emotions that have come up for you in your tobacco free journey? How have you dealt with them? What helps you cope with these feelings?
