Quite often when I am helping a person to quit smoking I ask them if they think that their habit is controlling them. It always amazes when they say that it doesn’t.
It is often a person who is a heavy smoker and been doing it for a long time that says their smoking habit is not controlling them. When they say this I usually follow up with some questions on their smoking and lifestyle, what usually comes out is:
- They check often that they have their cigarettes and lighter.
- They plan their day around cigarettes and smoking.
- They will go to great lengths to ensure that they do not run out of cigarettes.
- They don’t believe that they can achieve some things without smoking cigarettes
- They can’t function without a cigarette first thing in the morning
If that’s not control then nothing is! When you quit smoking cigarettes you take back control of your life. Quitting smoking means that you make the decisions and not cigarettes and smoking.
Quitting smoking means that you have more control over your health and well-being. Smoking is a habit that can exert enormous influence on a person’s life and detrimental consequences of smoking are just as enormous.
It makes sense to have control in your life. We often can’t control everything in our lives but we can take control of a smoking habit. It comes down to making a decision, it comes down to taking control of at least some part of our lives.