Have you gotten to the point where you wonder if it’s all worth it? Where life is just wearing you down and it seems like if one more thing happens you’re just going to go out and buy a pack and to hell with it? Do you feel like you have a lot of reasons to quit, but there’s a lot of reasons to smoke, too?
Maybe it will help you to realize that everybody who ever quit smoking had to face the challenges of life every day, too; just like you. Obviously not the same challenges you’re facing, but every bit as challenging to them as yours are to you. Some of them stayed quit, some of them went back to feeding the addiction.
What About You?
The ones who stayed quit had to make a mental shift: when they found themselves thinking that there were a lot of reasons to go back to smoking, they realized that these thoughts were coming from their inner junkie, and they understood that the junkie could only offer excuses for feeding it again, not reasons.
Big difference. Get your head straight on this point: there are lots of good reasons to stay free, even if it’s tough right now, but no good reasons to give up and go back to smoking. Only excuses.
Because, no matter what challenges you’re facing right now, I can guarantee you that smoking will not help you deal with them; it will only make you an active, practicing addict again. And tomorrow, you’ll have a new set of challenges to face. That’s life. Nothing’s permanent, for better or worse.
All Things Must Pass.
Including your craves. Remember: the craving will stop whether you light up or not. You know this; you’ve experienced it for yourself hundreds (if not thousands) of times. That being the case, the choice boils down to this: feed your addiction, knowing that you’re only guaranteeing that the next crave will come quicker and be stronger, or starve your addiction, knowing that if you do, the next crave will take longer to arrive and be weaker when it gets there.
The bottom line is, you have to choose, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, whether you’re going to feed your addiction or not. Just like everybody who ever quit. (And just like everybody who continues to smoke.) Choosing not to feed your addiction can be tough in the early going, but it gets easier the more you do it. (Just like choosing to smoke.)
The biggest difference is in the outcomes: one choice leads to freedom, health, and life; the other one leads to slavery, disease, and, ultimately, death.
Choose wisely.