Smoke Tonight and Quit Tomorrow

How many times have you told yourself you’d smoke just tonight and promise to quit tomorrow? Dozens or hundreds of times?

I can’t even count the number of times I’ve broken that promise to myself. Probably 100’s.

But, the point I want to make is that there is NO SUCH THING as quitting for a certain amount of time, and then rationally thinking it’s OK to have just a few.

YOU WILL BE RIGHT BACK TO YOUR OLD LEVEL OF SMOKING VERY QUICKLY!

From my personal experience, I was always thinking I needed one more day. One more day and I’d be ready to take the addiction on with full force.

The next day would be the start of the NEW me.

But that is a ridiculous thought, even though it plagued me for many years.

You know what happens if you do all that?

You may be convinced to quit yes, but the physical pain after a night of smoking two packs (or more) is going to be extremely fierce. You’ll feel horrible. You’ll most likely smoke again to take away the pain.

Even a single drag will put that addiction right back into your body.

Then you’ve done it. Then the cravings start coming back. Then the thoughts start coming back about how great cigarettes used to be.

Remember, you eventually forget about the negative aspects once you quit and only remember the good times. This can be said with many things in life.

You may even buy a pack later on that day. Sound familiar?

The truth is, there is ALWAYS going to be a time in the future that you are going to want to possibly smoke for.

The weekend is coming, New Year’s Eve is coming, the wedding next summer is approaching, etc.

The list can go on forever, and it will. You’ll make up any excuse to smoke.

This is why it’s so hard to quit. It’s just so easy to start back up because of an excuse, like any silly event you conjure up in your mind.

I could make up an excuse every single day of the week if I wanted to.

That’s how deadly the cycle of addiction really is. It’s relentless in its attempts to get you to go back.

So, when you come to a point in your everyday life, such as a party, hanging out with certain people, or having a hard day at work, and you say to yourself “Well I’ll just smoke a few and jump on the bandwagon tomorrow,” it may seem like the greatest idea ever.

You’ll probably even start obsessing over it.

Once that starts happening, you’re doomed.

You need to focus one day at a time, and not worry too far ahead into the future.

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE!

Unfortunately, that one night turned into a full-blown relapse every time. It would be weeks before I could make another honest attempt.

But, at the time, I didn’t think of that. I was just thinking of the moment.

I wasn’t thinking about my goals, my future, my dreams coming true, or any of that.

The fact is, I could wake up in the morning feeling so angry towards cigarettes that I was SURE I could quit very easily.

Some of the times I’d be hungover as well, so that fueled my anger even more. I was sick of feeling horrible in the morning.

It was a constant battle, cycling back and forth, with no end in sight.

The sad part is, once the night rolled around, my hangover went away, and I began to crave cigarettes. Nicotine created temptations in my mind, conjuring up convincing scenarios.

I thought, “Well, I feel good right now, I might as well smoke. I can quit tomorrow and have one last night of fun.”

That day never came, at least not for years and years later.

This is why your mindset is so important.

You have to get it in your head that there will always be a time when you’re going to want to smoke. There will always be something coming up to trigger you.

You can NEVER have “just one.” It will always end up in relapse.

That’s the bottom line.