Quitting Smoking

[patrick jane]

It is tough - very difficult. It's like trying to conquer yourself.

The weird thing is that it is a challenge that we created. Nobody else had a hand in it. We gradually built the city and now it needs to be torn down.

Absolutely.

 

[Danoh]

I had conquered the habit with the help of a really good vape. It is the best of all the replacement helps because it mimics the habit best. Never was a heavy smoker anyway.

When my wife died, I went back to it with a vengeance. Like I didn't care what happened to me. That got me going again. Then I regained my senses and went gradually back to the vape. It took time to get used to smoking in the beginning and it will take time to quit. Just remember that every day is an opportunity for you to allow the Lord to show you His strength.

I am convinced there is a lot more of the psychological in it than most realize. For me, solving a problem, accomplishing something, or just enjoying myself were powerful triggers. My psyche learned those associations over many years and I found I had to unlearn them.

All the best brother!
Send me a pm anytime if you just want to rant! lol

Your post implies various principles at work behind your success in the above.

But also, various issues that if not addressed, can later result in a return of the compulsion, as you found out.

Replacing the compulsion is one of the keys.

And addressing the issues that result in setting off the compulsion is another one.

One that if not addressed, can set off the compulsion at some other point in life.

And it is not really the years that give the compulsion its power, rather, it is the fact that there is an association between the stimulus and the response.

As in when someone does something really horrible and in that instant what you associate with them is forever altered.

The brain forms associations at lightning speed.

It has to. Because life often demands lightning responses in the moment - free of having to think a thing through.

One trial learning.

That kind of thing.

And where most fail when dealing with an addiction is in their failure to replace the compulsion with a behavior that still satisfies it - absent of the negative consequences.

A simple example all can relate to...

Many of the better tv shows about crime where what drives a behaviour is the focus, are often based on actual forensics.

Repeatedly in those shows, it is the failure, if not the inability, to replace a response to a stimulus with one that is much more ecological (positive for all sides), that results in all sorts of heinous crimes.

So the thing to seek to do is to somehow seek out a means of...trading compulsions.

Case in point...

Acts 26:8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? 26:9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 26:10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. 26:11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. 26:12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, 26:13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. 26:14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 26:15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 26:16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 26:17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 26:19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:

He is describing both this trading of his motive and its compulsion.

From one of "brain, whenever you see this, do this" to "brain, from here on out, do this...instead..."

As in "and ever since that day, we were never the same..."

An association was formed.

A one-trial learning.

Galatians 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

These principles are ever there in the Scripture.

It is just a matter of looking at things through principles, to begin with...

Through questions like "what principles does all this appear to be following?"

Next thing you know, you begin to see them.

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

:thumb:

 

[George Affleck]

Hang in there PJ

 

[marhig]

It's been tough because I keep going to reach for one and they're not there. I think about it once a minute it seems like. I'm praying and thinking of all the positives. My health, saved money, the smell, the stigma and the thoughts in the back of my mind of what they were doing to me every time I lit up.

Patrick, hang in there. Keep going it gets easier as time goes on, my husband was on 40 a day and he's given then up completely. He kept praying, and I hate them so I helped[emoji3] he hates the smell now, he's been off them for about 8 years ish.

I'm stopping eating cakes sweets chocolates and biscuits too, anything that I crave for. I still have the odd thing that doesn't make me crave but I've cut right down. It was a killer at first, but I don't think about them much now. I've been off them about 4 months and God is strengthening me.

I keep thinking of what James said, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Good luck and God bless, I hope you do it

 

[meshak]

I'm stopping eating cakes sweets chocolates and biscuits too, anything that I crave for.

my goodness.

I love sweet. I am hoping God will close my eyes for eating them.

I eat a lot of fruit and vegies so I hope that compensate my eating sweet.

 

[Delmar]

I'm going on the nicotine patch program this weekend, I know they work. They start with the strongest ones and taper down for a month. Wish me luck everybody.

Good luck Patrick. PS sorry I wasn't around to wish you happy birthday.

 

[patrick jane]

Good luck Patrick. PS sorry I wasn't around to wish you happy birthday.

I had a snafu with the insurance AND the pharmacy. It went through a week later, then they gave me week THREE first with the others following every two weeks. I almost have all the weeks now and I used that as an excuse to "finish" the ones I had and then started buying them until, you know, "after I get them all". Another excuse. I plan to do it and be a quitter for good before the one year anniversary of this thread. I have that as a goal and hopefully sooner. I will need a little luck and lots of help from God. I hope you're doing fine, we don't get to see you much. The weekly weigh in is going strong !!!

 

[john w]

I quit on 1/6/2013, and I would be one of the last ones you'd expect to quit, as I enjoyed it immensely, and I was good at it. The physical effects are so great, and, although I was so good looking before I quit, I am even more good looking now, which is almost impossible.And although I was quite humble before I quit, my extreme humility has even increased.