Most people would recognize that an addiction to cigarettes is a very difficult thing to overcome. But is that more hype than reality? If we believe that an addiction is difficult, don’t we expect to struggle and in some cases even expect to fail? What if we viewed our addiction to cigarettes less of an addiction and more along the lines of a repetitive choice? What if we are choosing to light up ten, twenty, forty times a day or even more? Then couldn’t we choose, craving by craving, not to light up?The tobacco industry loves that we all believe we are addicted to cigarettes. In fact, they continue to try to convince us how heavy our addiction is by putting out products to help us quit. These products are often more expensive than a few packs of cigarettes and help us with our cravings. Many of the products that are designed to help break an addiction to cigarettes are put out by companies with holdings in the tobacco companies. The profits reach the same people.
The more we expect something to be difficult the more we anticipate we will falter. Yet if we believe whole heartedly that breaking our addiction to cigarettes is really not that big of a deal then we might be able to put them down for good when we want to. The mind is a very powerful tool, and it is just as powerful when breaking an addiction as it is in succumbing to an addiction. Perhaps if we all simply decided that we weren’t actually addicted to smoking but we were making a choice, it would be much easier to make the choice to not light up for a few days, and then a few days more, and maybe even a few days more.
