25 août 2009
I lose my friends becose of smoking
According to Philip Morris research, “over 85% of smokers agree strongly/very strongly with the statement, “I wish I had never started smoking.” Most of our friends feel the same and wish they knew how to stop. They can benefit greatly by having a friend in their corner who understands the journey users make in returning home. The nicotine addict’s mind has been conditioned to believe, through association, that using nicotine is central to our entire life, including friendships.
While true that we will no longer engage in nicotine use with any person, no relationship whose foundation is broader than shared drug use needs to be adversely affected by nicotine’s absence. Successful recovery need not deprive us of a single friend or loved one. On the contrary, tobacco use has probably cost us relationships. Fewer and fewer non-users are willing to tolerate being around the smells and smoke, and oral tobacco use can be a major turn-off. Aside from no longer using nicotine, our current lives do not need to change at all unless we want them to change. Mine did. I no longer sought situations that allowed me to feel comfortable smoking.
Fellow nicotine addicts don’t normally try to make each other feel guilty for being hooked and using. In fact, there can be a very real sense of dependency camaraderie. We serve as a form of “use” insurance for each other on those occasions when our supply runs out. Obviously, I no longer frequented community ashtrays. In fact, for the first time in my adult life I found myself totally comfortable sitting beside non-users and ex-users for extended periods of time. Gradually, yet increasingly, my circle of friends and acquaintances grew to include far more non-users and ex-users. It was as if my addiction had been picking relationships for me.
12 août 2009
Quitting “You”
The real “you” never, ever
needed nicotine. You were fine
on your own. The real “you”
never experienced the artificial
highs brought on by elevated
nicotine levels or the
devastating lows that often
accompany withdrawal. We
typically functioned more
towards the center without
such violent or disturbing
neuro-chemical mood swings.
So what if you never, ever
needed to smoke, dip, chew or
suck nicotine again? What if
your mind was once again
itself, filled with a constant
sense of calmness and getting
its dopamine releases the
natural way, from great food,
big hugs, cool water, a sense of
accomplishment, friendship,
nurturing, love and intimacy? What if days, weeks or even months passed comfortably,
without once thinking about wanting to use nicotine? Would that be good thing or bad?
05 août 2009
Nicotine addiction
Nicotine addiction is about living a life of lies, deceit and denial. Forgetting the amazingly
calm and quiet mind we once called home our "pay attention" pathways were fooled into
establishing a new number one priority in life, obtaining that next fix. We are drug addicts
in the truest sense.
We may forget to take our vitamin or medicine, procrastinate regarding work, skip meals,
miss-out on time with family, friends or romance, but we would not forget or fail to
respond to the bell for our next nicotine feeding.
Knowledge is key in our quest to return home.
Knowledge, some form of ongoing support
and an appreciation of the truth that just one powerful hit of nicotine all but assures relapse.
Like an alcoholic pretending they can have "just one sip," toying with true chemical
addiction as though it were some "nasty little habit" is a recipe for relapse.
As you’re about to learn, there is only one rule that governs recovery. We call it the "Law
of Addiction." Break the law and you lay to waste all of your effort and dreams of a life
free of nicotine. Abide by it and failure becomes impossible. Knowledge is power!