Junkie Thinking

Think "just one" won't hurt? Think again!

JUNKIE THINKING: "One Puff won't hurt"

RESPONSE: "One puff will always hurt me, and it always will because I'm
not a social smoker. One puff and I'll be smoking compulsively again."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I only want one."

RESPONSE: "I have never wanted only one. In fact, I want 20-30 a day,
every day. I want them all."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I'll just be a social smoker."

RESPONSE: "I'm a chronic, compulsive smoker, and once I smoke one, I'll
quickly be thinking about the next one. Social smokers can take it or
leave it. That's not me!"

JUNKIE THINKING: "I'm doing so well, one won't hurt me now."

RESPONSE: "The only reason I'm doing so well is because I haven't taken
the first one. Yet once I do, I won't be doing well anymore. I'll be
smoking again."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I'll just stop again."

RESPONSE: "Sounds easy, but who am I trying to kid? Look how long it
took me to stop this time. And once I start, how long will it take
before I get sick enough to face withdrawal again? In fact, when I'm
back in the grip of compulsion, what guarantee do I have that I'll ever
be able to stop again?"

JUNKIE THINKING: "If I slip, I'll keep trying."

RESPONSE: "If I think I can get away with one little "slip" now I'll
think I can get away with another little "slip" later on. And the
slipping will get stronger and the trying will get weaker"

JUNKIE THINKING: "I need one to get me through this withdrawal."

RESPONSE: "Smoking will not get me through the discomfort of not
smoking. It will only get me back to smoking. One puff stops the process
of withdrawal and I'll have to go through it all over again."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I miss smoking right now."

RESPONSE: "Of course I miss something I've been doing every day for most
of my life. But do I miss the chest pains right now? Do I miss the
worry, the embarrassment? I'l rather be an ex-smoker with an occasional
desire to smoke, than a smoker with a constant desire to stop doing
it."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I really need to smoke now, I'm so upset (or
depressed, or whatever)."

RESPONSE: "Smoking is not going to fix anything. I'll still be upset or
depressed or whatever, I'll just be an upset/depressed smoker. I never
have to have a cigarette. Smoking is not a need, it's a want. Once the
crisis is over, I'll be relieved and grateful I'm still not smoking."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I'm Bored"

RESPONSE: Smoking is an "activity" or "something to do" only for
smokers. I'm really not "doing" anything when I smoke except still
sitting/standing there. The rest of the world survives occasional
boredom quite well without inhaling life-challenging chemicals.

JUNKIE THINKING: "But they've been smoking on TV and in the movies for
years! There are even magazines devoted to tobacco products!

RESPONSE: "That's right. They were on TV for years, I wasn't. I'm still
alive; many of them aren't and they departed this vale of tears in
prolonged and painful ways. And the smiling faces in the magazines now
are risking painful and disfiguring surgery later, at which point they
won't be smiling at all."

JUNKIE THINKING: "Its so nice to go out for a 'breath of fresh air' and
a cigarette."

RESPONSE: "Fresh air? I've got to be kidding. And face it, sunny days
are one thing, but how many days do I huddle out in the rain with the
rain hitting the cigarette and turning the cigarette paper that
disgusting yellow color? How many times is it windy and it takes forever
to keep a match or lighter lit long enough to light the cigarette, and
then how often does a gust of wind come up and blow the ashes into my
eyes? And when its icy outside, freezing my face off is bad enough, but
when it defrosts, there's this bizarre yellow condensation around my
nostrils. Now THAT'S attractive."

JUNKIE THINKING: "Smoking makes work go faster."

RESPONSE: "Most jobs where you work indoors are in companies which ban
smoking in the workplace. Some companies won't hire me if I smoke. And everytime I stop for a smoke it actually prolongs my work, since I'm not busy accomplishing it."