Ladies and gentlemen, and boys and girls (hopefully not too young - but no judgment passed)
We have picked up a bad habit that we know will kill us in a slow and miserable death. Smoking tobacco. Horrible and we know it. We keep telling ourselves it's not that bad, or I could quit if I wanted to. We know we are lying to ourselves if we tell people that. It's a defense mechanism we carry. It's usually the ego that says that.
Truth be told we just don't have a good strategy put into place. Well, I am going to present to you a good strategy, that hacks the mind and eases the cravings. Does that sound good to you? Good. Let's get down to business.
First, let's go over why we smoke. Many times we smoke out of boredom, other times it's out of habit, and of course, there is an addiction to it as well.
Let's hack the mind.
First let me share with you who I am, and what credibility I have. Because why would you care about some post, unless there was some kind of plausibility to this. My name is Mr. Michael Adams, I am a former addict who overcame my addictions to Alcohol, Marijuana, Methamphetamines, and Pharmaceutical drugs. But wait I didn't mention Nictione, why is that?
As I write this post, I will give full disclosure and transparency. I myself relapsed in Nicotine, and have been smoking for three or four months now. I had quit using the strategy I am about to share with you. But nicotine seems to creep up on us easier since it's legal and so easy to get. It's also a little more socially acceptable than narcotics. But that's ok because this strategy works. Each time I have applied this, I have stopped smoking for about a year each time, give or take. But we slip sometimes. It's ok, we go easy on ourselves and we recognize that we slipped, and we do it again.
Since I am about to take the plunge hopefully for the final time, I figured this would be something powerful to share with everyone.
Let's dive into this, yes?
Step One:
Minimize
You're not going to do it all at once. You could, but let's take baby steps. compound effect action into your own success. Slow down, don't freak out over this.
Step Two: Don't tell anyone. Keep it to yourself. Why do I say that? Well, people can be assholes. A lot of the time it's our friends who smoke. They will test you, saying "Are you sure you don't want a cigarette?" Or purposely smoke in front of you, or blow it in your face. I don't know, maybe it's just my friends. But maybe not. lol Just keep it to yourself for now. I will share with you in a second why this is powerful.
Step Three:
Alright so you cut back on smoking, and you know you are leading up to quitting soon. You haven't really set a date, you just know that the time is coming. In fact, I would recommend not to set a date. You will hit a night where you don't have very many cigarettes left, and you will have a decision to make. Should I go out and buy more filthy cigarettes or is tonight the night that I will end this horrible habit that controls me? Notice the words being used. Nothing about it is good. This is preconditioning yourself, as words have power. On a subconscious level, you are enforcing a powerful new program.
Step Four:
Save your cigarette butts, you'll thank me later. Make sure you save your cigarette box as well, don't throw that out as it's part of the process.
Step Five:
Congratulations for taking the huge step in not purchasing another pack of cigarettes. When you go to bed tonight, just remember when you wake up, you have gone 6 to 8 hours with no tobacco. This is a huge leap, so end your smoking at night time.
Step Six:
Have a straw ready, make sure you cut it the size of a cigarette, and put that straw in your empty pack. This is going to be your brain hack. Put your cigarette butts and put them in a place where you do not see them. When you wake up in the morning, keep your routine of smoking. Do you smoke right when you wake up, or after you eat? Ok, good. Don't do anything different, keep your routine, but instead of smoking a cigarette, you will pull out the straw that is in your pack and suck on it like you would a cigarette. Obvious you do not light it. But you do go outside, or wherever you usually smoke, and just stand there inhaling from the straw-like you would a cigarette. Does it normally take you about 5 minutes to smoke? Then do that for five minutes. Then put the straw back in your cigarette box. Stand there for a minute or two.
Are you still craving, then pull out the straw again, and pretend to smoke again. This hacks the brain, as much of the addiction also comes from the habits we had created. Your mind will think you are smoking, it eases the cravings, and many times the cravings are no more because the mind really believes it's getting the nicotine. Always keep your smoking routines. Even when you are with your friends, (don't tell them, see if they notice you sucking on a straw).
Step Seven: Get a sharpie pen (red is a preferable color), and write the number 1 on your hand that you smoke with. Every day you will see this number grow. It will not mean much to you until you get into double digits. Once you hit double digits you will really stop and think, do I really want to start over? You won't, as you will start to become proud of that number.
Remember how I told you not to tell anyone about your quitting smoking? This is a powerful trick. Because people are observant. They will start to see that number on your hand, and eventually ask you, "What is that number on your hand?"
Bam! Now you get to tell only those who are observant. Tell them exactly what it is. They will be surprised, and give you compliments. This will also boost your confidence, and you also get to see who is observant in your life and who is not. You will be surprised. Then eventually it starts to turn into a fun game you secretly play.
Keep numbers on your hand for 100 days.
That's it! You totally got this. Hang in there, Day 5 seems to be the worst for most people. Once you get past day five, it starts to taper down. You will find more time in the day, and creating new routines will help you. I suggest a routine of daily meditation practice.
Congratulations you achieved what you thought was impossible. Once you do this, you will reevaluate your life, and look for more bad habits and vices to kick from your life.
You are amazing, don't you ever forget that.
