give up smoking

Did you ever look at someone and wonder how they managed to just give up smoking, when you can't stop?

Someone you thought would never ever quit and here they are, a non-smoker while you are standing out there in the cold lighting up?

Maybe you always thought you'd be the one quitting before they ever would? 

How does this make you feel about yourself and your own willpower or capacity to change? You might be wondering how you are so different to them? 

You may have even noticed some harsh self-judgement creeping in to your self-dialogue for your lack of strength  

What you have to realise is that we are all different and you can't compare yourself to someone else. Let them inspire you if you can, but understand that we are on our own path and our time will come, just like theirs did.  This method is about increasing self-love as you contemplate your quit journey.  Quitting is loving yourself.

Practice these phrases instead of those internal voices of shame and criticism.

1. I'm doing the best I can.
2. I acknowledge I am struggling right now, but I'm ok.
3. I'm practicing using kind language toward myself.
4. My time will come.
5. I accept myself just as I am.
6. I have just as much power as anyone else.
7. If they can do it, so can I.
8. If it is meant to be, it's up to me.
9. I'm taking one moment at a time.

Hopefully, you can start to incorporate these more loving and compassionate phrases into your inner dialogue. What you want to avoid is overwhelm and hopelessness about your situation, because then you may want to smoke more to ease the feelings or wonder if there is any point giving up. Write them down and put them in your pocket

YOU ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN CIGARETTES.

Make the decision to quit today

Lisa

We move from one place to another every single day. We start in one place and end up in another and we need to acknowledge the potential simplicity of this - that giving up smoking can be as simple as getting from one place to another. 

So why do you keep smoking when you want to stop? Why do you overcomplicate it and give it way more importance and difficulty than you need to?

If you take a moment to think about the last time you did something scary and what thought processes you had to go through to take that step. 

- You might have minimised the importance of it, 

- You might have promised yourself a reward for doing it

- Or you might have pretended that it was something else to get it done. 

The mind is so powerful and way stronger than you think in all your actions. Think about someone who just absolutely needs to get something done and 'mind' doesn't even come into it. It is a matter of just overriding it with willpower to make it happen.

I'm reminded of the quote - do or not do - there is no 'try' 

So in the end, it comes down to motivation - what factors motivate action. How do you get in touch with those deeper aspects of yourself and move beyond those temporary feelings to behave in the most congruent way that will help you move forward or reach your destination. It's all about motivation or lack of.