Have you ever wondered why and how we pick up certain habits which despite the warning signs we want to do it?
Lets say you break a traffic signal and you don't get caught you probably will do it till the time you are actually caught and fined.
Many of us pick up small habits and by habit I mean an action which becomes a part of your personality and the consequences are detrimental, for example alcohol consumption in excess makes you an alcoholic and it can be a reason to justify divorce!
I was a smoker and I started way back in school, now if you know any boarding school kid they will have a habit both good and bad and I have seen smoking to be a common habit. When it starts it all looks cool and you be a "different" guy in the crowd, your uniqueness is thus the title of this article.
Now obviously I am not going to tell you that this is the definite way to quit smoking, its one of the ways and because I have tried it...it worked for me, you may know of better ways (slowly quitting etc.)
I averaged 5 cigarettes a day and needed one during work hours. Perhaps what made it easy was that I avoided smoking at home. So in June 2019 one fine day I was reading an article (unable to recall the author/writer) and with due courtesy to the writer I came across something that struck me. Mind you, I was in no mood to quit smoking or had a remote idea I would.
So the point was that if you want to quit smoking develop the intention to stop and the way to do it is stop lighting the cigarette which means don't carry a lighter or a match box and each time you have an urge to smoke tell yourself I don't want to light one instead of I want to quit smoking!
Break it down; smoking is an action and action comes from intention, the intention that you need to control is to light the cigarette!
Based on the intention is the loop of habit. Habit is an attempt to curb some anxiety or tension. If you can curb the intention at that very time when the urge appears, you stop the loop. It can happen at that very point. Now the big question that can help you work on your intention is WHY ?
Ask yourself "Why do you want to leave this addiction ?" If you can answer this WHY, you will give your mind the new positive intention.
The answer that I gave to my mind was that "I don't want to die" and the new intent that "i want to live ! "
At that very time of urge to light the cigarette, I identified the pressure point in my career. That's when i started telling my own mind, that "i can handle the challenge and i don't want to die and i want to live instead and fight back like a vibrant warrior". I told myself look I can do anything and I am not going to get carried away. What will happen max ?
All i need is to focus on solving the challenge in career instead of giving up.
Since then i know that antidote of being anxious and stressed is, feeling brave and all in control.
I started following this and I never looked back....
(This is a blog written by Ayush who committed to himself and gave up on smoking. These are his views and his personal experience. Though the above methodology cannot replace clinical intervention or psychiatric / psychological treatment for addiction to smoking in any ways. Yet this blog is an attempt to promote mental health and power of will. If you want to connect with Ayush, you can contact us on our numbers at any point in time.)