Over the last few months, numerous women have asked me to share how I was able to quit smoking using the WFS New Life Program. Sobriety and Statement #12 helped tremendously to achieve this goal and while WFS focuses on alcohol and/or substance abuse, I am now eight plus years smoke free thanks in part to the WFS Statements.
Around three years into my New Life, I began to think about quitting smoking. In Goodbye Hangovers Hello Life, Jean encourages the reader to quit and lists many of the long-term effects of smoking. While devoting less than three pages to the subject, this made a lasting impression and I began to ruminate on how to quit.
The beautiful words in Statement #12 began the process to quit smoking and encouraged me to keep going. This Statement was saying that I was competent, even though I felt I wasn’t when it came to quitting smoking. Already feeling somewhat competent in recovery, I began to create a plan of success to quit.
Organizing this new goal, I needed to change the way I felt about smoking. It was a love/hate relationship. Intellectually I knew the dangers of smoking; sadly, my mom had passed away from emphysema/ COPD at the age of 72 yet cravings helped keep my habit alive. Through WFS, I had begun to understand the connection between thinking and creating, (Statement #5) so I started to tell myself whenever I smoked that “this cigarette tastes terrible” or “this smells awful.” Time and time again I repeated these phrases and before long, the smokes tasted and smelled exactly as I had thought.
After six months of these repeated affirmations, I wrote out 13 benefits to quitting. I listed one for each Statement. Fresh smelling clothing and hair, breathing easier, and saving money were just a few of the benefits on this list. I carried this list in my pocket, so that even while I was smoking, I could read and affirm my decision.
Purposely, I had not given myself a quit date. A quit date would shift my focus from healthy preparation to unhealthy avoidance. If I knew the date, I would have focused my attention on what I felt I was losing instead of compiling tools for success. My husband decided to join me in this effort and together we began to look at a time frame. Still avoiding a set date, but setting intention, we chose springtime, once spring arrived, we then decided in April, and then to keep the uncertainty going, we decided to quit when our last carton of cigarettes was gone. Right then and there I became a non-smoker.
By now, I had associated the benefits of quitting with the empowering WFS Statements and I turned to these as the hours ticked by. Knowing the first three days would be the most difficult, I kept a plastic drinking straw cut in half near me and chewed on the end whenever a craving hit hard. Driving proved to be the most difficult, that particular association was quite strong, but using Statement #12 I proved stronger. Additionally, having a partner to discuss how I was feeling, or when a craving appeared helped a great deal as well. We were not an easy couple to be around those first days!
As it happens, the Gulf Oil spill occurred within the first 24 hours of quitting, so each time I heard the news, I became aware of how many days it was since the oil had started to leak. (I almost felt as if the news folks were keeping track along with me!) Soon the days turned into a week, and the weeks into a month. Cravings came and went but it began to become easier. Feeling better physically, I embraced what I had just accomplished. I quit smoking cold turkey and moved through cravings and impulses using the tools that I had learned in sobriety and recovery. Around 5 years smoke free, I joined an online support system to learn more and discovered a tool which calculates how much life has been added back because of quitting and how much money saved. To date, I have added a year and eight months back to my life and saved over $13, 440 dollars. (that’s $26,880 with my husband!) To celebrate our success, we bought a travel trailer with our savings. This led to the discovery of a lovely area downstate full of fishing and spectacular sunrises. Now, eight years later, we have sold our travel trailer and moved our home next to this beautiful river. Life is good breathing free!
Some tips to consider:
1. Plan ahead but try to avoid a set date.
2. Define your relationship with smoking and change it.
3. Identify your benefits from quitting.
4. Quit together. Use the WFS Forum or try the one I use ww.quitnet.com
Hugzzz
Karen
