As smokers, we often think of lighting up as an enjoyable pastime. Cigarettes offer us comfort, entertainment and companionship -- or so we think. At the same time, we relate smoking cessation to feelings of pain, misery and sacrifice, and for most of us, these opposing feelings exist and are reinforced on a subconscious level. They're below the surface of our thoughts, and the result is that we adopt unhealthy and inaccurate beliefs as facts of life when in reality they are only our distorted perceptions of the truth.

I'd like to introduce you to About.com Smoking Cessation forum member, Beth (Nyniane). In the article that follows, Beth helps us learn how to recognize thoughts that don't serve us as we move through recovery from nicotine addiction and reprogram our minds with thoughts that do. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with others, Beth. Your advice helps us work our way through the smokescreen of faulty thoughts that nicotine puts in our path as we work to quit smoking.

Related:

• What is Junkie Thinking?

• Rationalizations for Smoking

• Nicotine Withdrawal and Junkie Thinking

_{Photo © Beth}

We all want this quit to be the quit -- the one that lasts us a lifetime. We're looking for permanent freedom from nicotine addiction when we stub out the last cigarette that signals the beginning of smoking cessation, even though most of us doubt our ability to succeed for the long-term.

Let's take a look at some of the common misconceptions smokers have about the nature of addiction and the process of quitting tobacco that can set them up for failure.

Related:

• 4 Steps to Defeat the Urge to Smoke

• Developing the Will to Quit Smoking Successfully

_{Photo © Stockxpert}

All smokers harbor the secret hope that they will be spared the disease and death that follows nicotine addiction. We tell ourselves we’ll quit in time and somehow dodge the bullet that smoking is. But with four million people dying every year due to tobacco use around the world, the odds aren’t in our favor.

Put another way, a smoking-related death occurs somewhere in the world, every 8 seconds, 365 days a year. The sooner we remove the blinders and look carefully at nicotine addiction and the damage it causes, the sooner we can begin pull away from its lies.

Related:

• EB's List of Reasons

• The Pros and Cons of Smoking

• How Smoking Harms Us - Head to Toe

Since its introduction to the market in 2006, a number of serious concerns about Chantix side effects that involve changes in mood and behavior have surfaced. The result for many is an increasing sense of alarm about this popular quit aid.

A Reader Asks:
"I'm afraid to use Chantix because of all of the negative news I've been reading about Chantix side effects. Can you tell me what the side effects of Chantix are and whether Chantix is dangerous for me to use to quit smoking?"

Is Chantix Safe to Use?
Understanding Chantix Side Effects

More on Chantix:

• Chantix FAQs

• All About Chantix