7 PRINCIPLES TO QUIT SMOKING FOREVER

Transcription

1 1 7 Principles To Quit Smoking ForEVER DRANTONIOHOWELL.COM 7 PRINCIPLES TO QUIT SMOKING FOREVER WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW? Antonio Howell, M.D. 5/1/2012

2 2 7 Principles To Quit Smoking ForEVER 7 PRINCIPLES TO QUIT SMOKING FOREVER INTRODUCTION WHILE YOU READ PLEASE CONTINUE TO SMOKE! Yes! You read it right. Keep smoking as you read. Why? Because I don't want you to put-off reading. For you smoking is a crutch. Which means that you feel you have to smoke to function right. You feel you cannot think or focus well enough without nicotine. I want to minimize any fear you might have so you can hear the message. So don't worry I won't take your "friend" away. I don't want you to quit until you are ready. You will quit when you are ready to do so and not a second before. So go ahead and smoke while you read everything. And if you do you will quit. SO KEEP READING Just keep reading What do you have to lose? Nothing! Except to be happy with the knowledge that you will be once and for all free of tobacco. PRINCIPLE #1 QUITTING IS ONLY POSSIBLE IF YOU

3 3 PRINCIPLE #1 QUITTING IS ONLY POSSIBLE IF YOU REALLY WANT TO QUIT. REALLY WANT TO QUIT. It may sound corny but it is worth saying the obvious which is that nobody can force you to do anything you do not want to do. Quitting smoking is not easy we can all agree. But quitting smoking is not as hard as you may think either. The most important ingredient to become an ex-smoker is really wanting it. And the opposite is also true if you really wants to do something no one can stop you either. Either way you become an unstoppable force. Think about the biggest rock in the world. If you take something as insignificant as a drop of water it can over time make a hole in any boulder. As long as you give 100% you can accomplish anything. Take the Grand Canyon for example. It was formed by the effects of a little water over the span of many years. You are much more powerful than a trickle of water. The problem is that you often do things when our heart is not completely in it. The halfhearted effort is what keeps you from finishing what you start. It is what prevents you from being all that you can be. People who figure this out are the people we ultimately look up to and worship as heroes. The ones who do not are forgotten. So

4 4 PRINCIPLE #2 TO QUIT YOU MUST KNOW YOUR WHY when you say you want to quit, do you really want to quit? And if the answer is "yes", what is stopping you? PRINCIPLE #2 TO QUIT YOU MUST KNOW YOUR WHY Take your time and really think about this. Do you really want to quit? If you do then write it down. It is very important that you do this. If you really want to quit write down the reasons WHY? And be specific about it please. Reasons such as I want to quit because of my kids. Or the price is too high. Or I just decided I wanted to quit. These reasons may be true of course, however you need to be more specific. HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE A GOOD WHY? Here are the characteristics of a good WHY statement: A good WHY is very personal and unique to you. A good WHY may move you to tears. A good WHY will at least makes you pause and think. HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF A WHY STATEMENT: "I [!name!] want to quit because. I'm (age) and feel great but I want to be even more in control of my body. I want to maintain good health for what years I have remaining. I have had enough and despised the habit. I have already quit smoking before but it didn't stick. But this time will be different and I will succeed so that I could be around for my kids in the future etc." (Do you see the difference?)

5 5 PRINCIPLE #3 QUIT SMOKING WITHOUT NICOTINE Be sure to put it on paper and after each reason ask yourself and why do I want to do that? Do this exercise allows you to dig deeper within each reason. Repeating the process until you cannot think about anything else. Take your time doing this it is very important. The more effort you put into this exercise the better it will be. And remember your why is a personal thing and only has to apply to you. Another person's why statement may not mean anything to you and vice-versa. So write your own WHY now. If you really want to quit TODAY you will not hesitate to do this right now. PRINCIPLE #3 QUIT SMOKING WITHOUT NICOTINE Would you help an alcoholic quit by giving them an alcohol patch? Would you give a crackhead a cocaine patch? So why do we insist on quitting with nicotine patches? Or nicotine chewing gum? etc. Even if you were successful quitting using the nicotine replacement at some point you will have to quit the nicotine replacement otherwise you would be just trading one addictive nicotine delivery system for another. THE ADDICTIVE EFFECT OF NICOTINE ON YOUR BRAIN. In 1988 the surgeon general made a statement that nicotine is as addictive as heroin or cocaine. So the effect of nicotine on the brain is similar to that of other addictive drugs. And YOU get hooked on smoking because YOU become addicted to the nicotine. BUT When people are asked why they smoke, almost

6 6 PRINCIPLE #4 NOBODY ENJOYS SMOKING. nobody answers "It is because I am addicted to nicotine." I suspect the reasons for this which I will get into later. Instead most people talk about having a smoking "habit". Yet habits are not hard to change once you decide to do so. For example a baby sucks his or her thumb and eventually stops that habit. If a baby can stop a habit why would an adult find quitting a habit any harder to do? The truth is that the reason you smoke is the same reason a cokehead or heroin-user does it because you are hooked on the drug. In the case of smoking the drug is nicotine plain and simple. Nothing else. You may fight me on this point but you would just be lying to yourself. Once you make that mental leap in your understanding of why you smoke things begin to get much easier. Because if you try to quit smoking by using a nicotine patch or gum you are still hooked to the drug. Weaning-off cigarettes means nothing if you are still getting the nicotine into your system. Your are just delaying your quitting decision. Instead of putting it down in a moment and once and for all. PRINCIPLE #4 NOBODY ENJOYS SMOKING. Anybody who tells you that they smoke because they enjoy is lying. You are not smoking because you ENJOY IT otherwise why would you want to quit? And if you enjoy smoking so much why is it that after you smoke you feel so bad and wish you could get rid of this need to smoke?

7 7 PRINCIPLE #5 QUIT AND BE HAPPY Breaking your addiction to smoking involves kicking the nicotine habit. It is however true that YOU may have started smoking to be social, to hang with the cool crowd, or to be rebellious. However, today you continue to smoke because you feel the nervousness, and the jitters that comes with the withdrawal of being hooked on a drug (see principle #3). Nicotine in this case. The truth is you HATE smoking but the withdrawal from nicotine puts you on edge, it hampers your concentration, it makes you miserable until finally you just give into it and smoke. PRINCIPLE #5 QUIT AND BE HAPPY You are going to quit when you are ready and that will happen when you are ready. But the difference this time will be that when you do put down that cigarette you will do it with the clear knowledge that you will never ever smoke again. And secondly you will be happy. No. You will be elated. You will become giddy with excitement at the knowledge that you have finally won. You will not mope around and look back at smoking like it was something that now you will be missing out on. Instead you will clearly see that you are not missing out on anything but that you are finally free. Free to continue a wonderful existence free of tobacco or smoke. Just like it once was for you before you started to smoke. PRINCIPLE #6 NO WILLPOWER NEEDED As far as withdrawal symptoms you will feel the worse on the third day after you quit. It is unavoidable. But in a weeks time it

8 8 PRINCIPLE #6 NO WILLPOWER NEEDED will be 10 times easier. And each day will be easier and easier That is it. You won't need to avoid your friends because you won't want to be enslaved by cigarettes anymore. And you will realize is that what your friends, who are still smoking, want to become more than anything is to be smoke-free. They want to be just like you and not the other way around. So no willpower needed. First of all it is not possible to quit without some willpower. I am not going to lie to you and say that you can because you cannot. You may be seduced by the liars, charlatans and snake oil salesman out there with promises of something for nothing but you will not read that crap here. We specialize in truth here and straight talk. And the truth is the only way to quit smoking without willpower is to not to have started smoking in the first place. How to give up smoking is not hard. As Mark Twain once said "I quit smoking a million times." Yes, the quitting is easy the hard part is staying the course or to quit without coming back to the nicotine. The way to do this has been hashed out by millions of websites and experts. And yet what makes me think I have anything to offer to this topic? Well I believe the mindset after you quit is very important. How you think about cigarettes after you quit is the key. You must feel happy after your quit. You have to quit and feel great after you do it. If you quit and mope around. If you quit and

9 9 PRINCIPLE #7 LONGER LIFE AND MORE MONEY look back thinking about what you are missing that is when you make a mistake and are prone to return. PRINCIPLE #7 LONGER LIFE AND MORE MONEY If you smoke You will be twelve times more likely to die from lung cancer. You will be ten times more likely to die from some form of lung disease. You will be ten times more likely to die from cancer of the larynx. You will be six times more likely to die of heart disease. You will be twice as likely to die of a stroke. Imagine for a second the benefits you could gain if you quit today: 1) you increase your chances of living from two to twelve years longer, 2) gain many extra years of happy, healthy existence, and 3) save thousands of dollars. SHOW ME THE MONEY YOU SAY? Yes! Money and lots of it. One of the benefits of quitting is the amount of money saved by not buying cigarettes in the first place. If you smoke one pack of cigarettes a day at $2.00 per pack, you spend $730 per year. If your habit is continued for a period of 20 years you will have spent an incredible $14,600! If you smoke two packs for that same period of time, you will spend $29,200! SUMMARY: PRINCIPLE #1 QUITTING IS ONLY POSSIBLE IF YOU REALLY WANT TO QUIT. PRINCIPLE #2 TO QUIT YOU MUST KNOW YOUR WHY. PRINCIPLE #3 QUIT SMOKING WITHOUT NICOTINE. PRINCIPLE #4 NOBODY ENJOYS SMOKING.

10 10 PRINCIPLE #7 LONGER LIFE AND MORE MONEY PRINCIPLE #5 QUIT AND BE HAPPY. PRINCIPLE #6 NO WILLPOWER NEEDED. PRINCIPLE #7 LONGER LIFE AND MORE MONEY