A Year Without Cigarettes

A man once told me that to quit smoking I had to do it, not for myself or for my family and friends, but for God. The guy was Asian, so you'd think that anything he had to say would be wise. I guess he was trying to smash that stereotype.

I actually managed to quit smoking a year ago today, and I did it for myself, and by myself. I didn't rely on any help: no hypnosis, no gum, no patches, and certainly no God. My thinking was that if I replaced one habit with another habit, then I really didn't beat the addiction. I've known people who have quit drinking or drugs and replaced those addictions with what can only be described as an addiction to God. These people are so annoying that you find yourself dreaming up schemes to get them off the wagon.

Alcoholics Anonymous, and others of the so-called 12-step programs, encourage this reliance on God. The first step in programs like these is usually to admit that you have a problem that you have no power to control, and the second step is to believe that there is a "higher power" that can help you.

Now maybe cigarette-smoking isn't quite the addiction that alcoholism or drug addiction is, but it's no small potatoes either, and it's the only addiction (apart from caffeine and sugar) that I've ever known. I smoked a pack a day for about 20 years, and there were dozens of day-to-day activities that I was unable to conceive of doing without smoking a cigarette. Wake up in the morning, have a smoke. Drink coffee, have a smoke. Eat a meal, wait for a bus, drive a car, meet strangers in a social setting, work for two hours, read a book, surf the web, get ready for bed. Smoke, smoke, smoke.

What's worse is I'd work my schedule and my budget around it. If I needed groceries, I had to consider if I had enough money afterwards to buy cigarettes and make it through to the next payday. I would have sooner skimped on meals then on cigarettes. It got to the point when I had to ask myself, am I indeed powerless to control my addiction? I reasoned with myself that my desire was caused by a chemical, and that my justifications for smoking were the nicotine's effect on my brain. I told myself that millions of people managed to wake up, and eat and drink coffee, and go through their daily lives without having a cigarette, and that I could be one of them.

In short, I told myself that all I had to do was take control of myself and not be a slave to nicotine. And I told myself that I DID have the power to control my addiction, and that I DID NOT require the help of any fictional god. So I set a date for myself, June 13th, 2009, as the date I'd smoke my last cigarette, and I several days prior to that date I examined the stupid reasons I smoked and psyched myself up to quit.

It wasn't easy, but I encouraged myself and told myself to stay in charge. Quitting smoking was a very self-empowering enterprise for me, and it remains on top of my list of my proudest achievements. I'm no expert in the psychology of addiction, but I would recommend that anyone who has tried and failed a 12-step program to try my way instead. Instead of thinking of yourself as having no power to control your addiction, and instead of thinking you need a higher power to help you, start telling yourself that you do have the power, and that you can take the reins and control your addiction and your own life.

What's the worst that can happen? You might fail and have to try again. Or, you might just succeed in changing the course of your own life.