How to beat addiction and live smoke free

Actions are powerful, they can day after day, slowly and unconsciously harden into habits.

Habits that creep in and take control of your life by kicking out your good sense and making you feel like a captive.

We all have something that we are attracted to, ensnared and then addicted to <coffee, food, Internet, TV, work, exercise, religion, etc.> but for a smoker, his or her habit is more visible.

It all starts off as fun, thinking it’s a one off moment and then slowly looking back years later to see how all those little acts of innocence have become a huge mountain.

I took my first puff when I was 16. It was at a party and everyone else was smoking so it seemed cool and a grown-up thing to do.

This habit creates a powerful bonding experience that allowed me to click with strangers as I shared a light or a cigarette. There is always a great conversation going on where people are smoking.

It’s a habit that keeps you company when you are both happy and sad, in a group or alone.

Even when the you are at the end of your rope and all else fails, you can always reach out for your trusty pack of cigarettes and light up.

It’s hard to understand if you are a non-smoker, how someone can form an intimate relationship of dependence on an inanimate thing that slowly kills you with every puff.

More than the carving for nicotine is this false friendship or companionship that you hold on to.

Addiction isn’t about substance – you aren’t addicted to the substance, you are addicted to the alteration of mood that the substance brings – Susan Cheever

Here are some things that helped me get unstuck and start living smoke-free:

• Deal with the root cause. Take the time to understand why you started smoking and what are the needs that this habit actually meets in your life. It helps to think back to when you first started and why you continue to pursue this habit. I tried quitting a number of times, but it didn’t last because I had not dealt with the root cause of my addiction.

Habits form because we have used our addiction to fill an inner need or emptiness. I think for me it was a longing for deep relationships and to be accepted.

• Sit down and write a farewell letter to your good friend once you decide to say goodbye.
• Take one day at a time and don’t be disappointed if you fail.
• You have to take on a new habit to replace the old. I took up cycling or rather I started cycling and then decided I was in bad shape and needed to give up this habit so I could pursue my new hobby.
• Take back control. At the end of the day, the decision is in YOUR hands and YOU decide what you want to do. Take responsibility for your actions, your health, your body, your future and that of your family.

Remember as you fill the needs in your life in a healthy way, you will be able to say goodbye to your old friend.

For the non-smokers out there the best way you can help is to be there and not be too judgemental.

All the best to you and remember if I can do it, you can too. 

Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time – Mark Twain