by John R. Polito
From WhyQuit
Want to quit and stop smoking but haven’t yet been able to pull it off? Consider a bit different approach. What’s needed is what researchers call self-efficacy: belief that you can.
Try this. Instead of thinking in terms of strength or willpower, invite dreams and desires to become the wind beneath your wings. Consider borrowing from the following wish list in creating your own. Use this Word formatted copy to make additions or deletions in personalizing and printing your list.
Be sure to carry your dreams with you at all times and to reach for them if feeling challenged.
Sample Dream Sheet
- Substantially improved breathing
- Much deeper sleep
- Greater calm during crisis (smoking is not a stress-buster)
- No more being nagged about quitting
- Being generally happier and less depressed
- Able to engage in brisk physical activity without becoming winded
- Better rational control over impulsivity
- Greater honesty with others
- Less risk of hearing loss
- Cleaner skin and hair
- Enhanced pride, confidence and self esteem
- Up to 1,200 percent lower odds of developing COPD
- More coins in my pocket each and every day
- A hugely whiter smile that’s not afraid to be seen
- Vastly diminished odds of mouth or throat cancer
- Clean, fresh breath that no longer needs to hide
- An end to inhaling up to 69 cancer causing chemicals
- Less chance of developing leukemia: blood cancer
- A temporary journey to crave-less days, weeks, months and hopefully years
- Additional job opportunities
- Diminished anxiety and greater patience
- Slowly diminishing odds of coronary heart disease (up to 200%)
- Substantially cheaper life insurance
- My 37 trillion cells receiving more oxygen and fewer toxins
- No risk of making children sick by breathing my secondhand smoke
- Substantially less facial wrinkling
- An end to inhaling up to 250 tissue destroying toxins
- Reduced odds of prostrate or cervical cancer
- Relaxed, wider, less clogged and generally healthier blood vessels
- Up to 52% lower odds of developing skin cancer
- More room in my pockets or purse
- Healed tastebuds with foods tasting more accurate: some better, some worse
- Less chance of an abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Keeping more hair longer
- Less heartburn
- No more inventing excuses for standing out in the heat, cold or rain
- Cleaner clothes
- Return of my natural sensitivities
- Increased fertility
- Lower odds of my cat or dog getting cancer
- Diminishing odds of a stroke (up to 200%)
- No more yellow fingers
- Healthier gums with fewer root canals
- Prolonged periods of deep relaxation
- Diminishing risk of stomach cancer
- Natural adrenaline levels
- No more setting a horrible example for kids
- A vacation for my heart (up to 17.5 fewer heartbeats per minute)
- No more ash, butts, ashtrays or lighters
- A cleaner smelling house and car
- The possibility of never again experiencing bronchitis
- No more burn holes in clothes, carpets or upholstery
- An opportunity to again meet the real and forgotten me
- No longer feeling like a social outcast
- Diminishing odds of bladder cancer
- A vastly enhanced sense of smell
- Stronger bones, reduced osteoporosis and fewer back problems
- No longer creating 1 genetic cell mutation for every 3 cigs smoked
- Less chance of going blind
- No more late night trips to the store
- Each puff no longer permanently destroying additional lung air sacs (alveoli)
- Diminishing likelihood of pancreatic cancer
- The ability to fall to sleep faster
- Re-grown cilia with fewer colds and flu
- Self honesty about why I smoked: a real drug addict / mentally ill
- Greater opportunity to make non-smoking friends
- No longer needing to tank-up every waking hour of every day
- Less absenteeism from work and greater productivity while there
- The ability to stay seated for an entire movie or drive for hours
- No longer exposing others to my smoke
- More teeth at old age (an average of 5.8)
- Less likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes (44%)
- Never having to think about quitting again
- No more social pressure to quit
- Diminishing odds of rheumatoid arthritis
- Fewer doctor visits and medical bills
- Smoking no longer gradually diminishing my IQ
- Fewer headaches
- The prospect of looking years younger
- Declining odds of macular degeneration (200%)
- An end to my wheeze or chronic cough
- Gradually diminishing odds of lung cancer (up to 2,500%)
- Lower blood pressure inviting serenity
- A bigger bounce in each step
- An end to inhaling smoke’s 7,000+ chemicals
- Less chance of experiencing middle-aged memory loss
- Quicker wound and fracture healing
- Improved odds of not becoming a smoking statistic
- Hopefully, many extra years of life (at least 10 – the average lost)
- No loved one left pondering why I committed slow suicide
- No longer waiting for a house to fall on me before awakening
- Living long enough to enjoy and draw retirement or social security
- Living far healthier, happier and calmer once there
- A permanent end to my neuro-chemical slavery
- No longer daily handing the neo-nicotine industry my money
- The promise of becoming nicotine-clean within 72 hours
- The promise of moving beyond peak withdrawal within 72 hours
- At last realizing that recovery is good and wonderful not bad
- Within 2 weeks, watching fear and dread melt into like or even love
- The confidence that flows from mastering successful quitting’s only rule (the Law of Addiction): that one equals all, that lapse equals relapse, that one puff would be too many, while thousands wouldn’t be enough, that failure is impossible so long as I keep all nicotine on the outside.