Quit smoking – are you really giving anything up?

The one thing you must always remember when you are stopping smoking is this. You are not really giving up anything worthwhile. So there should be no sense of loss coming from your decision to quit, if that is what you ultimately decide to do.

We do not wish to make you do anything you don’t want to and we would hate you to think we were trying to preach to you about what you should or should not do about your smoking habit. We will try not to hammer you with things that you already know. We will simply present facts and ideas about smoking and YOU will use your own judgment based on the facts.

If you decide to “get rid of the smoking habit" then this must be YOUR decision. You must willingly choose and if you do you must be completely committed to achieving this. If you do decide to give up smoking, then do it for your own reasons and because you really want to. If you do make this decision, we hope we will give you things to think about and provide you with useful tips and encouragement that will help you to meet your goal of stopping smoking.

Giving up smoking

Why are you even thinking about giving up smoking? After all you enjoy it don’t you?

Well OK It isn’t good for your health, it is now very expensive and smokers are becoming more and more isolated and marginalized! But why are you reading this? Probably because you would like to quit smoking now and need some help and advice! If you are a smoker by now you must have conceded that all of the warnings and adverse publicity must be based on good scientific evidence. Quitting smoking is definitely the way to go!

Well the first thing that you must get in your mind, is that there is not really anything to “GIVE UP”!

I will repeat that just to remind you when you start feeling deprived because the cigarette ‘comforter’, is no longer available…… There isn’t really anything to give up!

There is absolutely nothing of worth, to give up. There is no genuine pleasure or crutch in smoking. It is just an illusion, like banging your head against a wall to make it pleasant when you stop."
(Allen Carr, “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking”)

Think what you can gain from not smoking

To the smoker this will be very hard to accept. But we believe that Allen Carr is absolutely right! Quitting smoking is not about giving anything up, but it has everything to do with what you will gain in your life and in your own personal self esteem!

Think of it this way, you're not going to give up on bad health. You are making the choice of good health Instead. Concentrate on the positive things you can gain from becoming a ‘non smoker’, not on what you may first think of, that you will lose.

Do you actually enjoy smoking?

Most diehard long term smokers would obviously answer "yes!" if not why else would you be doing it? But wait consider this thought in more detail. Just what exactly is it that you enjoy? Can you put actually define the pleasure you get from it?

Is it the tobacco taste that you enjoy? I don’t think so! If this was the case why do you need to inhale the smoke? Because all of your taste buds are in your mouth which is where your taste sensation lies? Your taste is already impaired by the smoking habit anyway, when you quit smoking everything will actually taste much better anyway. So it’s not the taste. It may well be the sensation, which comes from the inhaled smoke and gases, which convey the nicotine to the brain receptors giving you that ‘lift’ That sensation is all about your brains addiction, not about your own pleasure.

So what else do you enjoy about smoking?

How can you enjoy quitting smoking benefits ?

To a smoker this isn’t an obviously ridiculous question. They will not relish quitting smoking at all, but if you have to convince a No Smoker why the habit is enjoyable that is a different matter.

If smoking is actually enjoyable, could you explain this to a person who has not actually indulged in the habit/pastime, whatever you care to call it. Can you really persuade say a teenager, who has never previously smoked just what to expect they are going to enjoy so much?

And when they cough and splutter on their first cigarette, as they almost certainly will. You then need to explain why! Maybe you will suggest that they're not doing it properly?

Ridiculous I know, but, if smoking is an enjoyable activity, shouldn't it also be enjoyable to a person who hasn't done it before?

So Enjoy quitting smoking! Makes a lot more sense, doesn't it?