Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking - Allen Carr [61]
What was once a social habit has become a source of shame and embarrassment. And it’s not getting better. Though it’s difficult to imagine, things will continue to get worse for smokers in the US. There isn’t a city or town that doesn’t have draconian smoking by-laws or plans to implement them. There is even talk of legislation to attempt to ban smoking in private homes and cars if those spaces are shared with non-smokers.
Every day more and more smokers leave this sinking ship. In a 2008 Gallup poll over three-quarters of current smokers want to quit. As smokers give up in droves, those left in the trap begin to worry about being left on their own.
DON’T LET IT BE YOU!
CHAPTER 28
TIMING
A part from the obvious point that as it is doing you no good, now is the right time to stop, I believe timing to be one of the most important aspects of quitting.
Our society, despite its professed hatred of smoking, doesn’t take it all that seriously though. Society tends to treat smoking as a bad habit that has unfortunate side effects with respect to health. This is a bit like saying that Tiger Woods is a decent golfer—something of an understatement. Over 1 billion people (including over 50 million people in North America) are addicted to nicotine. Smoking kills around 5 million people every year, including an estimated 450,000 Americans. It is, by far, the leading cause of preventable death in every developed country in the world. For many smokers, their one biggest regret in life was lighting their first cigarette.
The figures quoted above provide ample demonstration, if any were needed, that the stakes are very high. Your health, happiness and freedom are at stake. If you don’t get this right, you could pay with your life, as five million smokers did last year, and five million more will next year. It is important to do everything you can to give yourself the best possible chance of success and this means getting the timing right.
First of all, identify the times when smoking appears most important to you. If you are a businessman and smoke for the illusion of stress relief, choose a relatively slack period, or perhaps your annual vacation. If you think you smoke mainly when you are bored, choose a time when you know you’ll be busy.
Look a few weeks into the future and try to anticipate whether there might be an occasion or event that might cause you to fail. Occasions like weddings or Christmas need not deter you, so long as you anticipate them in advance and do not feel you will be deprived. Do NOT attempt to cut down in the meantime, as this will only create the illusion that the cigarette is enjoyable as explained in Chapter 23. If anything, it helps to force as many of the filthy things down you as possible. This removes even the illusion of pleasure. While you are smoking your last cigarettes be aware of the disgusting smell and taste and think how wonderful it will be when finally you allow yourself to stop doing it.
WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T FALL INTO THE TRAP OF PROCRASTINATING AND PUTTING IT OUT OF YOUR MIND. FINALIZE YOUR TIMETABLE NOW AND LOOK FORWARD TO IT. Remember you aren’t giving anything up. On the contrary: you are about to receive marvelous positive gains.
For years I’ve been saying that I know as much about the mysteries of quitting smoking as anyone else on the planet. The problem is this: although every smoker smokes purely to relieve the chemical withdrawal created by the previous cigarette, it is not the nicotine addiction itself that hooks the smoker but the brainwashing that results from that addiction. Every individual smoker has his or her own individualized version of the brainwashing. In most aspects of the smoking puzzle these differences don’t matter but in the area of timing they can be critical.
With the benefit of the