I have been trying to quit smoking for over an year now. I have tried all the methods currently available but, unfortunately, still have been able to hold onto this habit. Currently I’m wearing patches, and I know that I’m going to fail again.
I have been away from smoke for two days now but still have this feeling of relapsing into the habit. What should I do to strengthen my resolve? I have failed so many times that I really don’t know if I’ll ever be able to break this bad habit. What can I do?
Let me call attention to your line “. . . still have been able to hold onto this habit.” Doesn’t that say it all? Even as you try to quit, you want to hold onto smoking. Quitting smoking by any method is hard to accomplish. It’s impossible if the motivation isn’t there and the person is daring “treatment” to do its work. Sometimes people without much conscious motivation have remarkable long-lasting cessation with hypnosis; there, presumably, unconscious readiness to quit is at work.
I suggest you sit down quietly by yourself and honestly examine your feelings about stopping. Writing down your thoughts over a period of time can be a good exercise. Call it “A Smoker’s Private Diary.” Aim for rock-bottom honesty. Admit you love to smoke and aren’t ready to quit, if that is the case. Write down reasons for stopping. Wrestle with the contradictions in your thinking and feeling. Maybe you can come to a state where you are sincerely ready to say about stopping: “I want to do this!” Then you may get better results.
