Many people who smoke want to quit. In fact, at one point or another the vast majority of smokers make it their intention to quit. This may be for a wide range of reasons. Perhaps they wish to quit smoking because of concerns for their health, the cost of smoking or concern for their family.
With powerful reasons like these, why do so many smokers convince themselves to continue smoking, when all the signs point to quitting? Well, the obvious answer is that it’s an addiction to smoking that allows smokers to continue, against their own best advice. That and the excuses people make to avoid the challenge of quitting.
Here are some of the most common excuses and why they should be overcome.
I’ll Quit Smoking Later
Because of the addiction to nicotine, it’s quite common for smokers to put off smoking for another day, one that’s less busy or stressful. Unfortunately that day won’t come unless you engage with the situation and make a firm commitment to quit.
Each day of smoking is another day with a slow acting, expensive poison in your body. Why put off until tomorrow, what can be done today? If you want to quit, seize that moment.
I Enjoy Smoking
If you’ve given any thought at all to quitting, there’s some part of you that’s aware that it’s not as enjoyable an activity as you’re nicotine affected brain would like you to think. We all know that any pleasure associated with smoking is the relief from nicotine addiction.
So, if there’s a voice in your head, loud enough to be heard over the nicotine addiction, telling you to quit, perhaps it’s time you listened to it.
I’ll Cut Down Instead
In the short term, the will power you need to exercise to cut down smoking will probably be easier to manage than the will power needed to quit. However, in the longer term, it’s much easier to quit, because it’s really difficult to avoid the cigarette intake increasing, after you cut down.
If you try to quit by cutting down, it just means your withdrawal from nicotine lasts longer, in between your reduced intake. So, it’s just a matter of whipping up that extra willpower, because you know the best option is to quit for good.
It’s Too Difficult
Nobody’s going to tell you that quitting smoking will be a walk in the park, but it doesn’t really have to be as difficult as you’d imagine. There have been significant moves forward, when it comes to helping people to give up smoking.
There are inhalers, patches and all sorts of other solutions, so it’s not like you have to go cold turkey any more. Setting yourself to quit cold could make the experience far more challenging than it needs to be.
Everyone can find a method that works for them. For me, it was Hypnotherapy and NLP that did the trick. It’s a pretty quick and simple way of quitting, which doesn’t depend on nicotine replacements, like patches.
If you want to find out more about how I used this method to end the excuse making for good, check out Quit Smoking Today for more details.