Quitting Smoking without Willpower
When we speak with a Smoker who has just tried and failed to stop smoking, they usually say that they failed due to insufficient “Willpower”…. They are discovering that Repression simply does not work.
What if we took a different approach?
What would you say if I told you that you could quit without any willpower whatsoever?
Interested ?
You read it right… It’s True…. Abstinence Psychotherapy really works!
So let’s take the next step and take a look at Motivation and the Thought Processes behind that motivation.
Reasons to Not Smoke
1.) Health – According to the CDC, smoking is the single most preventable cause of death in the World today. It is also the single major cause of most diseases.
Fortunately, the inevitable tragedy of smoking can be interrupted and replaced with the positive and wonderful benefits of stopping smoking. And the benefits just get better and better over time.
2.) Money – When looking at the real cost of smoking, one must consider not just the price per pack, but all the peripheral costs must also be taken into consideration.
Other costs that are usually not factored in are skyrocketing medical costs, rising insurance premiums, and the costs of burned clothing, furniture, and other casualties.
3.) Slavery (Addiction)- As a Smoker, I hated the slavery of needing a cigarette as soon as I woke up and even before my feet hit the floor in the morning. It controlled me all day and all night.
I could think of nothing else until the Demon had been satiated. I had to have “My Fix”.
4.) Social – Missed social opportunities such as dating, enjoying a movie uninterrupted, or enjoying a meal with friends or family without leaving to smoke has become the norm. Smokers have become Pariahs, social outcasts.
Smokers also spend long hours alone smoking that could be better spent in activities such as spending more time with the family, being more productive, or having fun with friends.
Busting the Myths
Myth #1…… Smokers need willpower to quit
A Smoker will not quit until he or she wants to quit.
Actually, Smokers often fear stopping smoking because they perceive stopping as worse than smoking. This causes the procrastination that will surely defeat a Smoker every time.
Of course, this is not true. It is a product of what we have done to our own minds over the course of our smoking lives.
Only when we say ” I’m Done with this ! “ do we take the very small step that changes our lives significantly for the better…
Ironically, it is only then that we discover that we succeed simply by making a choice and a commitment to ourselves.
Myth #2….. Smokers believe they smoke because they choose to.
Smokers smoke because the nicotine releases a brain chemical known as Dopamine. Dopamine is a “Feel Good” drug. We crave the Dopamine, not the nicotine. The nicotine simply releases it into the body.
This is why you see people often relapse after many years off smoking… It isn’t because of the nicotine… Nicotine is gone in less than 72 hours.
Myth #3….. Patches, Pills and Gums work….
Pharmaceutical cessation products continue to attract support disproportionate to their usefulness. This distracts attention from the reality that the most common and most effective methods used by most ex-smokers still remains unassisted cessation. Drug-free methods still head the list.
Smokers say they “suffer” because they believe they are making a terrible sacrifice… Using drugs to stop using that very same drug only prolongs the addiction and intensifies the withdrawal symptoms.
Myth #4 … Quitting is hard…
As Smokers, we fear the temporary withdrawal and the opportunity it gives us to break the addiction once and for all. We need not fear temporary withdrawal. It is our bodies going through healthy changes.
Realize that there is nothing to “Give up”… Trying to get back to that constant up and down of the Dopamine induced state of relaxation that non-smokers naturally and continually enjoy every day of their lives gives us that false illusion.
The only thing preventing our success is another dose of nicotine… One Puff and it’s all over.
What Does All This Mean?
The brain has been chemically altered and must be treated if we are to be successful over the long term. This is where Abstinence Psychotherapy comes into play. It is also the root reason for its huge success.
I employ Abstinence Psychotherapy with my students because it treats the damage done to our thinking so that we can remain healthy Non-Smokers for as long as we choose to.
It means that you will never again smoke another cigarette without consciously and deliberately lighting up.
It means that you will finally be in control of your own choices.
Conclusions
A desire to stop smoking is necessary to the successful consummation of the process, but it is only the beginning. That desire has zero impact unless we immediately follow through with a Decision to Stop.
Making that choice and immediately following through is the key.
Procrastination is the ONLY thing stopping us from better health… Crazy, Huh?
