Guest writer: Mari C
This testimonial for Allen Carr’s The Easy Way To Stop Smoking
How do I know that I will probably never smoke again? About 6 months after I stopped smoking my 11 year old son was diagnosed with a very rare and life threatening bone marrow failure disease. On my way home from the hospital very late that night, I did stop at a garage for a packet of cigarettes, convinced that I will not make it through the night without the familiar comfort offered by a cigarette. As soon as I got home, I went out onto the patio and was about to light a cigarette when I realized that my mindset actually had changed forever. I really did not need or want that cigarette after all! Today, my son is in recovery and doing just great. When I finally managed to stop I always wondered if I would be strong enough when faced with a real crisis. Now I know.
Some background then. I was always the person voted most likely never to stop smoking. My colleagues and friends were convinced there is nothing under the sun that can help me stop. I was a total chain smoker before legislation was introduced to ban smoking in the workplace. I would light up a new cigarette even though I already had one burning in the ashtray, so automatic did this habit become. When smoking at my desk was no longer an option, I could very often be found outside (normally with loads of printouts as not to impact on the deadlines too much) for a smoke at least once every hour, and would organize meetings in the smoking area whenever I could. Even with the restricted smoking time, I still managed a respectable 40 a day! I can go on and on about my behavior as a smoker, but I think you get the picture by now.
I tried Smokenders, Zyban, nicotine patches and sprays, going cold turkey, and whatever other stop-smoking strategy else you can think of too many times to count – and always with a very predictable outcome. Most of the time I was lucky if my latest and greatest attempt to stop smoking lasted through to noon on the first day. It goes without saying that I was never shy to announce to the world that “This time I am stopping for good” just to have a good giggle next time I see my ever patient cheering squad, smoke in hand. Gradually reducing the number of cigarettes I smoke daily is another stop-smoking strategy that I have tried and this was probably, for me at least, the least successful of all. By slowly limiting the number of cigarettes per day, I found that it actually made me more reliant on the few I allowed myself to have. My eyes would burn from the strain of trying to concentrate on my work while my brain kept on calculating the time left until the next fix. Continue reading how to stop smoking the easy way with Allen Carr
