Cognitive Quit Smoking

One of my hesitations in quitting had to do
with a really special group of friends I came to
know simply because we were “the smokers.”
We bonded in a special way… we created a
“nonjudgemental smoking section” etc. My
friendship with these wonderful people was
entirely bound up with the smoking bond.
So I feared that seeing them again would either
be a time of grieving — ie, I would have to avoid
them — or a time of susceptibility — I would start
smoking again when I saw them. I decided that
I needed them to know in advance that I
was quitting, and that it mattered a great deal
to me that I succeeded.
So I wrote them a group email, telling them

I was about to quit, telling them I didn’t
want to lose their friendship, telling them
how important it was for me to not smoke
any more, and why.
I received such loving, supportive responses, and
I knew it was going to be ok. One of the people
and her husband were even working on their own
quit.
It also matters that smoking friends know
I have quit, am in the middle of quitting, and
that they can respect my choice. I figure if
people can’t or won’t, I don’t really want them
as my friends.
It has helped me to ask friends and
associates for their supportive thoughts as
I have done this. Even if I know they can’t
understand the magnitude of this — it has
helped reinforce my own determination, to
let people know I’m quitting and that it’s a
big deal to me.
I also dropped some other responsibilities,
wherever I could, for a couple of weeks, to
lighten my stress load as much as possible,
while going through the worst of the
withdrawal/detox. I am now 2 weeks and
2 days quit, and beginning to feel much
much better all over. Annie

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 27th, 2006 at 8:26 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.