Good news, I now want to consider your other option. You have made the choice to quit smoking. First came the decision, then the action, and now you’ve fished out that crystal ball again. You are looking at yourself five years from now, and you are seeing yourself after five smoke-free years. I’m sure you like what you see now. Your breathing has improved, along with your general health. In fact, your whole life has become more positive, and you are happier. You spend more time with the family and you smell fresher and sweeter. With justification you feel that great sense of achievement, you experience a wonderful freedom, and you are brimming over with pride, but without being boastful, of course. There is no room for the self-righteous ex-smoker. By courtesy of a crystal ball you are seeing and hearing a new you and you are feeling how you would feel. You imagine taking a nice deep breath of fresh air and you notice how great that is.
Let us do what we did when you looked at the old you, still on the cigarettes. We move forward five more years. After ten years you are even more happy with yourself. Your skin looks fresher and healthier and is almost glowing. Another positive is your reflection in the mirror. You see yourself smiling back at you. Yes, you did it, and you have enjoyed the holidays that you now take instead of burning your money. Your whole family has benefited because you quit smoking and you feel proud, seeing what you would see, hearing what you would hear and feeling how it really feels to be rid of smoking.
Now we are starting to make progress on your quit smoking journey. We have started to dismantle some of the fundamental parts of the smoking trap that has imprisoned you for so long. Maybe you can already start to see smoking for what it really is and now that you are aware with this information you are closer to making the best choice, the right decision for you.
The more information the better of course, and there is more information that you will need if you are to make a best choice. Smoking has two roots that have been keeping you in the smoking trap, and for you to break free from the trap both have to be tackled. If you deal with only one you might as well be chopping the head off a weed. Any good gardener will tell you that if you cut off the head and leave the roots intact the weed will grow back sooner or later, and maybe stronger.
One of these baddies is the physical root. This is the physical addiction to nicotine and the many other chemicals within in cigarettes. The other, the psychological root, is even more important. It has many sides to it. It is composed of your belief structure, your automatic behaviour and your other behaviour patterns, and the associations and triggers that link your activities with your smoking. This last aspect is so familiar to smokers . A man may say: ‘ as soon as I get bad news I simply must have a cigarette.’ This is the type of link we must sever.
Time for a recap. What have we learnt?
That smoking is a trick and the benefits of smoking are illusions.
That if you are honest with yourself you want to quit smoking.
That smoking is the problem and quitting smoking is the solution.
That thousands of people have quit smoking.
That to stop smoking permanently you must remove both roots.
Life is always about making choices. Continuing to smoke and stopping smoking are both choices. It’s your choice if you want to continue to smoke, and you know where that road leads, and it’s your choice to make your mind up to quit smoking, to reach a decision and to take action now.