Really want to quit smoking? Then Quit Making Excuses
If you’ve been a smoker for any length of time, you’ve given thought to quitting. Why haven’t you? Because you keep making excuses like “Now’s not a good time for me” or “I need to lose some weight first.” You know exactly what I mean because if you haven’t said these words, you know someone who has.
So here’s what you need to do. You need to put down in writing the things you want to accomplish (quitting smoking) and come up with the reasons why. And while you are doing this, write down all the reasons why you can’t (your excuses).
Just putting excuses down on paper so that they are something solid you can see is enough to make some people look at how silly they really are. For others, they may have to analyze their list of excuses and figure out why they believe these reasons to be true. Usually it is due to repetition. You’ve been telling yourselves for years that these are the reasons why you smoke, and if you tell yourself something enough times, eventually it will become an ingrained belief, whether it is the truth or not.
I’ve listed some of the more common excuses here, but ultimately it is your responsiblity to list EVERY reason you think keeps you smoking.
“Smoking helps to keep me thin.”
Yes, it is possible that you may gain a little weight when stopping smoking. However it is usually less than 20 pounds (which, by the way is WAYYYY better for you than continuing to smoke would be). But if you take proactive steps to assure that when quitting, the only snacks available to you are healthy rather than high calorie comfort foods, this should not become an issue.
“Smoking makes me happy.”
If that’s the case, then why are you reading an article on quitting smoking? Truth is that I also said this exact same thing. It’s purely a defense mechanism so you can justify why you smoke to other people. The problem is that as I said before, if you say something enough times, eventually you will come to believe it. This is no different. So it’s time to be completely honest with yourself. Do you really enjoy smoking or is it just a lie you’ve come to believe? What do you love about it? Is it the coughing, the breathlessness, the stale smell in your hair, clothes, car and home? What is it that you truly appreciate about what smoking does for you? When you look at it that way and actually write the answers down, I think you’ll find that you really don’t like smoking very much at all.
Now don’t take those statements as viscious or cruel. In no way are they meant to be that way. What they are meant to be is a wake up call – and one that I needed as well. If, as smokers, we keep making excuses as to why we continue the habit, the outcome is that we will remain addicted to the nicotine. And the sooner we realize this reality, the easier quitting will be.
You have what it takes to beat those lies, once and for all.
