Terry Quit Smoking Three Years Ago

"If You Want to Change Your Life, Change Your Mind"

As I sit here on the eve of my 3rd year smober anniversary, I’m thinking about that last cigarette I smoked. I was sitting at the kitchen table at 10 in the morning, home sick with bronchitis again. I felt miserable, weak and desperate. I quit smoking on that day in 2001 without any real confidence that I would be able to stay quit. I had no idea that I was smoking my last cigarette ever.

Today, there is one thing about my future that I know with absolute certainty:

I will never smoke again!

I’m done with cigarettes. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I’ll never go back.

How do I know? How can I be so sure? What if something really stressful happens? Isn't it at least possible that I might turn to cigarettes to soothe and help me through tough times? Nope. Not a chance.

My certainty comes from one simple thing.

I’ve changed what cigarettes mean to me.

In fact, smoking now has such a negative connotation, I would never choose it as an option under any circumstances. I’ve changed what cigarettes mean to me and in the process I’ve gained permanent, true freedom from the habit that held me close for 26 long years.

If you want to change your life, change your mind.

Our thoughts and feelings control the quality of our lives. It’s how we think about the experiences in our lives that has power, not the events themselves.

Most of us smoked for years and years. We came to think of cigarettes as a part of us; a friend, even. How do we now go about changing the meaning of something that has become so firmly established in our lives?

There are specific steps that when followed, will help you take control and shape your thoughts in ways that serve you. Work these techniques into your daily routine and give them some time to grow and flourish. You’ll be surprised at the positive changes you can create in your life.

Make the commitment.
Anything you want to change in your life has to move from the should list to the must list. Most of us spent years thinking we should quit smoking. I sure did. Decide right now that quitting is a must for you. This has got to be the first step you take on the path to freedom. Don’t worry that you feel shaky and unsure. I don’t know a smoker who quit and didn’t feel that to some extent initially. The steps outlined here will help you turn that shakiness into strength of purpose. Make your quit a must - it’s where we all have to begin.

Educate yourself about nicotine addiction.
While we all know smoking is bad for us, most of us avoided reading smoking-related information to some extent. Smokers don’t like to come face-to-face with the facts about what they‘re doing to themselves. As a quit tool, however, education about nicotine addiction is powerful. It will remove the blinders, teach you what to expect as you go through the process of quitting tobacco, and most importantly, education will help you begin to change what smoking means to you. It’s hard to think of your cigarettes as your buddy when you’ve just looked at pictures of toes blackened with gangrene because of poor circulation. Smoking begins to lose its appeal when you read about a mother who has to face leaving her children because she’s been told she’s dying of lung cancer.

On the flip side, reading about the benefits of quitting will teach you that it's never too late to quit. Positive effects begin within 20 minutes of your last cigarette.

Education is a powerful tool! Use it to help you change what cigarettes mean to you.

Listen in on your thoughts.
It’s been said that the average person has 60,000 thoughts every day. A large percentage of those thoughts are negative in nature, often directed at ourselves. In fact, most of what we think comes and goes without our conscious awareness, yet those thoughts that we’re not paying attention to are controlling the quality of our lives.

Become aware of what you’re thinking. Pay close attention to that internal dialogue. Do you tell yourself things that sabotage your quit efforts? Things like:

I can’t quit.
I’m miserable without my cigarettes.
I’m not strong enough to quit smoking.
I don’t want to quit!

Work with thoughts that don’t serve your best interests and do it as soon as they come along.

For instance, you may think:

“I miss my cigarettes so much. I’m miserable without them.”

Change the meaning by saying something like this:

“I’m feeling miserable right now because I’m addicted to nicotine. Cigarettes aren't the answer to my pain, they're the cause of it. Once I get free of this, I’m NEVER going back because I don’t ever want to feel this way again.”

You’ve acknowledged the discomfort you’re feeling, but you've changed the meaning of the pain.

Small shifts and corrections in your thinking can have profound effects. With practice, you’ll find that being aware of your thoughts enough to discard those that don’t serve you will come naturally. Work with your thoughts to help you change what cigarettes mean to you.

Page 2 - Conditioning Your Thoughts