You’re a Quitter
December 30, 2007 by Tracee Sioux
Filed under Parenting
You’ve said it before, I’m quitting smoking this year.
But, then you didn’t. You couldn’t. You just . . .
It’s freaking hard!
I read this article in Oprah Magazine by Stephanie Losee, titled The Willpower Myth. It was based on a book Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life
Change or Die.
When you’re a smoker those are literally your choices. You can change and become a non-smoker if you want to live. Or you can choose to keep smoking and live with the consequences: emphysema, lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, severely damaging your children. . . oh the list of negatives for smoking just never ends. They keep coming up with more and more reasons to quit smoking.
Let’s face it – this is not new information for you. What will be different this time?
Chantix: it’s a little blue miracle in pill form. It won’t make it exactly easy to quit smoking but it will take you from the depths of hell into simple doable purgatory – which changes everything. Because when it was hell, you couldn’t do it. Now that it’s only purgatory – well, now you can be a quitter.
Relationship: You need support and I’m a been-there -done- that kind of girl. I quit smoking in 2007 and I want to help you quit smoking in 2008. If you think you’ve got it worse than I did – read I Suck. I have a whole website for people who want to quit smoking at Quit Coping. Feel free to stop by day or night for any support you need.
Repeating: this probably isn’t the first time you’ve quit smoking – so you’re going to be better at it this time. All the other times were just practice. And you know what they say about practice.
Reframing: This may be the most important thing you’re going to do for yourself. You’re going to change your thinking. You’re going to do whatever corny thing you have to in order to change your thinking. One thing that worked for me was to write I Am A Non-Smoker on my wrist and my bathroom mirror. I did it for months. Corny? Yes. But, who cares if it’s effective?
You can do this. 2008 is your year. Stop by Quit Coping and get all the support you can handle.
Be a quitter!
I’m a quitter too! Two years and I’ve never felt better. I know I smell a whole lot better too! Smokers really do stink!
I know. I get embarrassed when I walk past a smoker and think “I smelled like that for 20 years?” It’s humiliating.
I’m glad I stopped smoking. It has been so long that now the concept of me and a cancer stick seems silly as a notion. While most people speak of the “hardest part of smoking” I usually talk more of the oddest.
So much of my life was scheduled around my habit, that by having those minutes no longer spoken for, I found myself a bit aimless.
For example, getting in a vehicle was odd. In the past, I was accustomed to firing one up after I fastened my seatbelt. Same thing with before, and after meals. Also, not stopping for a cigarette break every 1 or 2 hours was a bit rough.
The one advantage to smoking is that as a smoker, you can enjoy a cigarette on your break and look as if you are taking a break. A non-smoker taking a break looks as if you are just slacking off. “Get to work, bum!”
-A