Reading what some of you guys are saying, you really should check out EasyWay.
It's not genius, in fact it's the most simple concept ever, and the Allan Carr really tries to stretch it out to fill a book and answer all the myths and the lies we tell ourselves - and believe me, they're all in there.
The book is terribly written [he admits he is not a writer] and really could do with some serious editing to maintain coherence throughout.
I didn't finish it but got the gist before stopping smoking.
I've been clean for a year now and, if you'd known me before, I was known for being a smoker.
Sometimes I am so surprised that my life no longer revolves around ciggies and things are still 'normal'.
It's simple:
you are addicted to nicotene only . Smoking is just the medium by which to take it. Patches are too: hence, why they don't help in the long run. All the conditioning, all the lies we tell ourselves (many of which we don't recognise as lies anymore - except for the tiny little nag that you are not sure you believe what you yourself are saying - like when you reiterate a newsstory that you know you don't have enough information on) it's all because we fear being without nicotene, cannot concentrate or relax without it - two complete opposites!? as suggested in the book. All of the other excuses all boil down to the fact that the nicotene addiction has to be fed periodically in order to restabilise yourself for a while and stop thinking about when you will get the next fix.
It's so simple yet too complicated for me to try to explain here, because i don't have the skill or patience.
Basically I stopped smoking by recognising when I was craving nicotene and riding it out. I also started to recognise when I was bullshitting myself - the day I decided to stop was the classic example:-
[Scene: smoking booth outside work - d3v smoking roll-up]
/thinks to self:
Ok, i'll just get the Christmas season over, then I'll stop...
[What am I afraid of here? Will I combat this if I can't even get over this first step of the fear of being without during a traditionally heavy merrymaking part of the year?]
Ok then, when this tobacco is finished...
[Because I've already paid for it!? If it were a mouldy sandwich I wouldn't finish it just because I'd paid out money.]
Ok then, after this shift...
[My job may suck but who am I kidding that it sucks any less because I can smoke? If it is stressful/dull then why should it be more stressful/dull without ciggies?]
Ok then, after this cigarette...
[Why am I wanting to finish it? - 'needing', more like!]
/puts cigarette out unfinished, a few hours into shift, half a pouch of 'baccy left, in the middle of October
Took a couple of days of feeling the pang rising and recognising it for what it is.
It took probably three months like this for me to experience many social situations that I would normally associate with smoking.
Not very well put at all but I want to get back to some gaming.
It's worth checking out, just for some of the revelations and eye-openers about yourself - I promise.
If you're smart enough you won't use some of the more preachy madman bits as an excuse to write it off.
It's funny in places too.
Ps. Use that honey herbal tobacco if you absolutely must use tobacco with pot
