I will be forty in the fall and I realize that I have accumulated six years since I got out of prison. Stop smoking. I was a heavy smoker with a history of fifteen years without freedom. It's a time when I devotedly patronized tobacco corporations and stubbornly assaulted my lungs. I did my job so well that running the twenty-meter dash brought me to the brink of collapse. I proved to myself that I am a smart guy, a true homo  sapiens. Isn't it called "intelligence" when you give money in exchange for cigarettes with which you attack your body? When it came to money, in a therapy session, a client made a calculation and exclaimed, “Wow! If we collected all the money that is given out for cigarettes, we could pay the down payment on the house!” This moved me thinking how much money I spent on the tobacco with which I poisoned my body. And I congratulated myself again on my intelligence. But obviously not all people are pecuniarily motivated. In other people (or the same ones), we find other values, such as freedom and intelligence.

It's a sick and unintelligent habit. It's not even fashionable anymore. Nobody gives a fuck about the macho man who smokes like he looks like the coal train of yore. As for a woman who is considered sexy smoking, where is the sex appeal? What do you anticipate wrinkles, dark circles under the eyes, yellow fingers and skin that is dry and wrinkled as a raisin?

Anyone who thinks they can get away by summoning the 80-year-old smoking grandpa is delusional, hence the limits of intelligence. Again, it works  motivationally  if the smoker values ​​his intelligence and his futility doesn't hide his dissonance; think you have intelligence but commit the folly of smoking. I understand well, because I have the experience of the dissonance of the ignorance of smoking vs. intelligence. I'm starting to worry, what am I doing if my intelligence has increased in the meantime? Do you remember that the decision to leave the tobacco drug contributes to intelligence? I warn you that in this country, for obvious reasons, increased intelligence can put you in danger.

Quitting smoking was one of my best decisions. So I decided to make sure that I would have at least an easy old age if the pension remained uncertain (implies the possibility of being optimistically biased). I didn't resort to the cold turkey method   (giving up without support or in the cold) that a lucky few boast about. The chances of success, but with long-term abstinence, are very small, and if you've heard of a friend who was successful, it's because his success is a success. People do not announce failures. Considered at the population level, the probability of success with the cold turkey method is 5%. In frequencies, we have that one individual out of twenty  is successful  and the world finds out about him.

Faced with these adversities, nine out of ten smokers try to quit smoking without any type of support. It obviously fails. Even when some are successful, it doesn't take a year for them to start smoking again. Now do not understand that it is not necessary to test your will. You can do it as an experiment. Regardless of the result, it is a step forward. But on condition that you learn from the experience of failure and, for example, next time turn to professional help. There is no shame in asking for help, but rather a sign of courage in our society. It means admitting weakness to the "nicotine monster" that many smokers underestimate, imagining that they can quit if they really want to or are very determined. They believe in preconception with "willpower." You have to really want to succeed. These groups of Allen Carr also operate on this principle of intuitive psychology, although, apparently, they do not operate with the method of the will. They increase your determination and confidence that you can succeed (they do a kind of cognitive therapy), but nothing more. They are important, but not enough for long-term success. Well, mea culpa, researchers show that after "Easyway" seminars, 53% of their participants remain abstinent even after 12 months. It probably doesn't hurt for anyone to have encouragement and a support group anyway. Researchers show that after "Easyway" seminars, 53% of their participants remain abstinent even after 12 months. It probably doesn't hurt for anyone to have encouragement and a support group anyway. Researchers show that after "Easyway" seminars, 53% of their participants remain abstinent even after 12 months. It probably doesn't hurt for anyone to have encouragement and a support group anyway.

 Serious studies   show that NRT (  nicotine replacement therapy)  doubles the chances of success  compared  to placebo over a period of six months. Consuming smaller and smaller doses of nicotine, for example through patches and gum, reduces the extent and intensity of withdrawal symptoms. By default, psychologically you are better off than with nothing. Of course, if you keep going around in smoking circles, it won't be long before you start smoking again. Social taste and the need for group integration are strong  determinants  of smoking. How to manage them so that you can achieve abstinence is scientifically informed psychological work.

It's not easy, and I don't think downplaying this kinky habit will help in any way. The notion that it is easy to quit smoking if you have a strong will is a  naïveté  from which, I observe, many fellow citizens suffer. And not only in front of smokers