Crib Sheet on Ceasing Tobacco Dependency:
1) Anyone can be foolish enough to start, yet they must also be smart enough to cease. Smoking is not just a habit, it is a habit reinforced by consequent addiction.
2) Imagine a demon lurking within your brain and body...this demon demands to be satiated with nicotine, and if not, then mental and physical punishments ensue. Smoking has wakened this demon. Cold turkey means that the ordeal is over sooner, the cravings conquered more quickly, as the demon is quickly starved. At the beginning, have a packet tucked away at home, so that the demon does not strike when out shopping. Do not beg, or accept cigarettes from others, this is the demon at work…!
3) Psychological as well as physical aspects pertain with addiction. So, also change daily rituals that had incorporated smoking, thus, removing those associations. Avoid stresses that were associated with smoking, change your friends if you have to, and, more than one smoker in a group or family means all must quit, even if temporarily apart. When physical cravings ensue, distract yourself as much as possible, and physical activities are the most effective. Do not allow snacking to become a distraction, and thus create another health problem. Do not prolong addiction with vaping and/or patches! Tell yourself that you really are a non-smoker...
4) With an addiction, note that personality changes ensue, driven by that particular demon...viz, you will be more offensive, defensive, defiant, cunning, calculating, and, self-deceiving…. These unpleasant induced personality traits will need to be controlled whilst giving up, and, given time after cessation, your real personality will again re-emerge.
5) Get mad at those who profit from your addiction, purposively bank more money each week that would have been spent on the addiction. This will impose economic reality, and help overcome self-deception caused by the demon. Plus, understand fully what damage is done to health by smoking, and, the poor example projected for younger family or friendship group members, and the burden carried by the national health system….you can also look forward to a normal and healthier lifespan.
6) Peaks of Need will occur further and further apart as the demon is starved, and, the Rule of Two will apply….two minutes, two hours, two days, two weeks, and then two years...and never a cigar at Xmas. Avoid secondhand smoke as much as possible. After 2 years, when the addiction and habit aspects are fully overcome, including restoration of your original personality, then, it will be your turn to counsel and support others, to help them be free of the demon of this addiction.
7) Note well, that if you tell yourself that ‘just one’ will do no harm, this is the demon talking, and, if you do smoke that ‘Just One’, you will be right back to ‘Square One’ as regards overcoming your addiction. The demon must be neutralized, and fully confined...in this respect, ask yourself, who is in control, you or the demon…? Stifle, subdue, and never again wake the demon….then finally, destroy that one pack left at home...its presence is no longer required, its purpose now nullified.