Addicts like us are great at inventing rationalizations (otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to continue our self-destructive behavior), and a big part of recovery is getting honest with ourselves and rooting out those rationalizations.

One of our favorite rationalizations is “it’s just a bad habit.” And while it’s true that habit is a big component of smoking, and I don’t think anyone would argue that smoking is a bad habit, it’s much more than that: the primary reason we smoke is because we’re addicted to nicotine.

Continue reading Root Out Your Rationalizations

One of the strongest indicators of your likelihood of success as a quitter is what can be described as your “readiness to quit”. I’ve noticed over the years that people who go into a quit with a certain set of characteristics tend to succeed, and that people who lack one or more of those characteristics tend to fail.

This doesn’t mean that if you personally don’t have all (or any) of the characteristics I’m about to describe that you can’t successfully quit smoking: statistics and averages only apply to groups of people; not to individuals. Your chances of success are 100%, as long as you make the right choices.

Continue reading Are You Ready To Quit?