In order to learn how to stop smoking, start by taking a look at your own experience of smoking by estimating the total number of cigarettes you have ever smoked. You may not want to do this, but it's very powerful information. If you have smoked 20 a day for only a year, then you have already smoked about 7,300 cigarettes. If you've been at it for 10 years, you've smoked 73,000. Thirty a day for 10 years is almost 110,000 cigarettes.
Do you really think that one cigarette is all you will ever want? You do tend to smoke them one at a time, but each one is just a part of a way of life.
When you smoke, you integrate smoking into your life and you live the life of a smoker. You smoke day in, day out, year in, year out, no matter what. You smoke when you are happy and when you are sad. You smoke when you are busy and when you are bored. You smoke when you are hungry and when you are full. You smoke when you are under stress and when you are relaxing.
Of course, different people smoke different amounts; one person may smoke 20 a day and another 60. You know what kind of a smoker you are, and how much you usually smoke. That amount, whatever it is for you, is what you will be choosing to return to any time you choose to smoke. The cigarette that is just one more is really the first of thousands more.
According to the British Journal of Addiction (1990): 'Over ninety per cent of teenagers who smoke three to four cigarettes are trapped into a career of regular smoking which typically lasts for some thirty to forty years.' If three or four cigarettes got you hooked in the first place, what are the chances of smoking just a few once the cigarette addiction has already been established?
The truth is that you are an addicted smoker, and addiction means being out of control. It is simply impossible for nicotine to become something that isn't addictive.
Resenting yourself for having become an addicted smoker won't help you at all. It is much better to admit that you did it, without blame. In fact, the more you forgive yourself for having started smoking, the more likely it is that you will stop and stay stopped. Just like millions of other people, you got conned by the same lies. It doesn't mean you are bad or stupid. It just means you are human.
This is one thing that makes smoking so different from most other drug addictions: the most stable and well-adjusted people can become totally hooked. The mistake is to refuse to believe that you have become addicted to what is arguably the most powerful addiction of them all.
If you really want to know how to quit smoking, the first thing you need to do is accept your cigarette addiction and learn how to overcome it. Get my free stop smoking tips and start your new healthier life today.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_Spencer
Saturday, 6 February 2010
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