Warning! Another long rambling post. :)
A lot of new folks and those coming back had me really thinking. Most all of you have been on my mind and I'm sending as many positive thoughts as I can your way. Pradaprincess, QuitMeister, SkyLark, Niks, Stubz, Sparky, Dee, Cuddles.. all of you. I know there are lots I've not mentioned too.
Man this whole smoking thing is really just insane isn't it? Oh my god is there anything else out there as easily obtained that is nearly as destructive as this crap?
Look around this site. Look around at ourselves? How many people come here every day begging for help? How many people come here every day hoping the group will accept them back in because they slipped?
Think about that for a minute. We KNOW this is a horrible addiction. We know what we went through to kick it. And yet we went back. We freaking went back!!
BUT - the even worse part... it made us wonder if the group here would accept us back. Holy crap people. Think about that for a minute. That is a shining example of just how much this drug alters our minds. It had us actually thinking 'Oh they won't take me back now. I might as well just give up'.
I had a discussion today with some folks about quitting. One of the topics that came up was what made me finally take that step.
I've written a whole other long-winded bunch of junk about that first step already - [url=http://www.stopsmokingcenter.net/support/viewmessages.aspx?topic=29304&forum=1] Click Here[/url].
The biggest thing though was the revelations about the lies we tell ourselves about all this. That up there is one of them - 'Oh they won't accept me back if I slipped. It's hopeless and I might as well just give up'.
Tell me if some of these don't sound familiar?
"Quitting will be much harder for me - I live alone."
"Quitting will be really hard for me - I've smoked for 30 years now."
"I can't quit, my wife/husband smokes."
"I'm trying to get myself mentally prepared first."
"I tried to quit before."
Any of those sound about right? Maybe even all of them? It's all just the stupid stuff nicotine tells us. It's an addicition talking.
Oh sure, if you can convince yourself it will be harder for you than the average person, then that means it's OK when you fail. Well