Really want to quit smoking? Then Quit Making Excuses
by Darren Warmuth
All too often I hear statements like, "Once I have gotten rid of my stress, I am going to quit smoking" or "It's going to be my New Year's resolution" or "I could quit right away, if it weren't for (fill in the blank)". You know what I'm getting at.
In order to quit the first thing you need to do is to write down exactly what the goal is you are after and come up with all the reasons why you want it. Once you've done this also make a note of all the excuses why you can't achieve your goal.
The act of putting your thoughts to paper gives you clarity. It allows you to sit back and subjectively analyze not only why you want to quit, but to scrutinize all the excuses that are keeping you from doing so. Doing so in this fashion will show you how silly your excuses are in comparison to the goal you are looking to attain.
I've listed some of the more common excuses here, but ultimately it is your responsiblity to list EVERY reason you think keeps you smoking.
"Smoking helps to keep me thin."
The blunt answer to this one is 'who cares!' Studies have shown that you are better off to be 70+ pounds overweight than to smoke when it comes to your health, but that's not a goal you are looking to attain either. The truth is that yes, some people do gain weight after quitting, but this is usually less than twenty pounds and if that frightens you, then this problem can be easily remedied by careful and detailed planning before you quit. Get it through your mind that you are not going to substitute food for cigarettes and if you do, it is healthy foods like celery, carrots and fruit, not candy bars, chips and other 'comfort food'.
"Smoking is too enjoyable to quit."
If that were truly so, then chances are you wouldn't be sitting there now gathering information on quitting, would you? Don't worry. I'm not picking on you. I used to say the very same thing. Making statements such as this creates one major issue. And that is the fact that the more times you say it, the more you become to believe it. I've said it before. So time to come clean and be honest with yourself, is smoking really that enjoyable or is it just a fallacy you've convinced yourself to be true? What is it that you think smoking gives you? More money, better health and cleaner, fresher breath? Looking at it from that angle and writing down the answers will show you that you really don't enjoy smoking that much at all.
The thing is that I am not trying to come across as mean or condescending, so please don't take what I am saying the wrong way. No, what I am trying to do is be truly helpful by telling you that none of the excuses that you are currently using or have used in the past do anything for you other than keep you smoking and once you come to terms with this fact, the easier quitting will be.
Trust in yourself and you'll find that you already have what it takes to beat these lies.
Do the various quit smoking pills work? - read some independent reviews of zyban, chantix, hypnosis etc. Also, click here to discover the quit smoking method Darren himself used. You can get a unique content version of this article.
|
