MarylandQuitter

Quit Date: 10/07/2013

Posted April 2, 2014 · 

Excuses to smoke

JUNKIE THINKING: “One Puff won’t hurt”

RESPONSE: “One puff will always hurt me, and it always will because I’m not a social smoker. One puff and I’ll be smoking compulsively again.”

JUNKIE THINKING: “I only want one.”

RESPONSE: “I have never wanted only one. In fact, I want 20-30 a day every day. I want them all.”

JUNKIE THINKING: “I’ll just be a social smoker.”

RESPONSE: “I’m a chronic, compulsive smoker, and once I smoke one I’ll quickly be thinking about the next one. Social smokers can take it or leave it. That’s not me.”

JUNKIE THINKING: “I’m doing so well, one won’t hurt me now.”

RESPONSE: “The only reason I’m doing so well is because I haven’t taken the first one. Yet once I do, I won’t be doing well anymore. I’ll be smoking again.”

JUNKIE THINKING: “I’ll just stop again.”

RESPONSE: “Sounds easy, but who am I trying to kid? Look how long it too me to stop this time. And once I start, how long will it take before I get sick enough to face withdrawal again? In fact, when I’m back in the grip of compulsion, what guarantee do I have that I’ll ever be able to stop again?”

JUNKIE THINKING: “If I slip, I’ll keep trying.”

RESPONSE: “If I think I can get away with one little “slip” now I’ll think I can get away with another little “slip” later on.”

JUNKIE THINKING: “I need one to get me through this withdrawal.”

RESPONSE: “Smoking will not get me through the discomfort of not smoking. I will only get me back to smoking. One puff stops the process of withdrawal and I’ll have to go through it all over again.”

JUNKIE THINKING: “I miss smoking right now.”

RESPONSE: “Of course I miss something I’ve been doing every day for most of my life. Bud do I miss the chest pain right now? Do I miss the worry, the embarrassment? I’d rather be an ex-smoker with an occasional desire to smoke, than a smoker with a constant desire to stop doing it.”

JUNKIE THINKING: “I really need to smoke now, I’m so upset.”

RESPONSE: “Smoking is not going to fix anything. I’ll still be upset, I’ll just be an upset smoker. I never have to have a cigarette. Smoking is not a need; it’s a want. Once the crisis is over, I’ll be relieved and grateful I’m still not smoking.”

JUNKIE THINKING: “I don’t care.”

RESPONSE: “What is it exactly that I think that I don’t care about? Can I truthfully say I don’t care about chest pain? I don’t care about gagging in the morning? I don’t care about lung cancer? No, I care about these things very much. That’s why I stopped smoking in the first place.”

JUNKIE THINKING: “What difference does it make, anyway?”

RESPONSE: “It makes a difference in the way I breathe, the way my heart beats, the way I feel about myself. It makes a tremendous difference in every aspect of my physical and emotional health.”

http://www.quitsmokinghelp.ca/mustread/junkiethinking.html

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