Junkie Thinking

Back at the turn of the Millennium there was a newsgroup called alt.support.stop-smoking or AS3. It helped countless people to stop smoking and to stay "smober". One of the most helpful pieces of content was "Junkie Thinking". I can't find who wrote it originally, but the archived versions are getting harder to find through Google. Some pages have disappeared.

JUNKIE THINKING: "One Puff won't hurt"

RESPONSE: "One puff will always hurt me, and it always will because I'm

not a social smoker. One puff and I'll be smoking compulsively again."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I only want one."

RESPONSE: "I have never wanted only one. In fact, I want 20-30 a day,

everyday. I want them all."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I'll just be a social smoker."

RESPONSE: "I'm a chronic, compulsive smoker, and once I smoke one, I'll

quickly be thinking about the next one. Social smokers can take it or

leave it. That's not me!"

JUNKIE THINKING: "I'm doing so well, one won't hurt me now."

RESPONSE: "The only reason I'm doing so well is because I haven't taken

the first one. Yet once I do, I won't be doing well anymore. I'll be

smoking again."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I'll just stop again."

RESPONSE: "Sounds easy, but who am I trying to kid? Look how long it

took me to stop this time. And once I start, how long will it take

before I get sick enough to face withdrawal again? In fact, when I'm

back in the grip of compulsion, what guarantee do I have that I'll ever

be able to stop again?"

JUNKIE THINKING: "If I slip, I'll keep trying."

RESPONSE: "If I think I can get away with one little "slip" now I'll

think I can get away with another little "slip" later on. And the

slipping will get stronger and the trying will get weaker"

JUNKIE THINKING: "I need one to get me through this withdrawal."

RESPONSE: "Smoking will not get me through the discomfort of not

smoking. It will only get me back to smoking. One puff stops the process

of withdrawal and I'll have to go through it all over again."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I miss smoking right now."

RESPONSE: "Of course I miss something I've been doing every day for most

of my life. But do I miss the chest pains right now? Do I miss the

worry, the embarrassment? I'l rather be an ex-smoker with an occasional

desire to smoke, than a smoker with a constant desire to stop doing

it."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I really need to smoke now, I'm so upset (or

depressed, or whatever)."

RESPONSE: "Smoking is not going to fix anything. I'll still be upset or

depressed or whatever, I'll just be an upset/depressed smoker. I never

have to have a cigarette. Smoking is not a need, it's a want. Once the

crisis is over, I'll be relieved and grateful I'm still not smoking."

JUNKIE THINKING: "I'm Bored"

RESPONSE: Smoking is an "activity" or "something to do" only for

smokers. I'm really not "doing" anything when I smoke except still

sitting/standing there. The rest of the world survives occasional

boredom quite well without inhaling life-challenging chemicals.

JUNKIE THINKING: "But they've been smoking on TV and in the movies for

years! There are even magazines devoted to tobacco products!

RESPONSE: "That's right. They were on TV for years, I wasn't. I'm still

alive; many of them aren't and they departed this vale of tears in

prolonged and painful ways. And the smiling faces in the magazines now

are risking painful and disfiguring surgery later, at which point they

won't be smiling at all."

JUNKIE THINKING: "It's so nice to go out for a 'breath of fresh air' and

a cigarette."

RESPONSE: "Fresh air? I've got to be kidding. And face it, sunny days

are one thing, but how many days do I huddle out in the rain with the

rain hitting the cigarette and turning the cigarette paper that

disgusting yellow color? How many times is it windy and it takes forever

to keep a match or lighter lit long enough to light the cigarette, and

then how often does a gust of wind come up and blow the ashes into my

eyes? And when it's icy outside, freezing my face off is bad enough, but

when it defrosts, there's this bizarre yellow condensation around my

nostrils. Now THAT'S attractive."

JUNKIE THINKING: "Smoking makes work go faster."

RESPONSE: "Most jobs where you work indoors are in companies which ban

smoking in the workplace. Some companies won't hire me if I smoke. And

every time I stop for a smoke it actually prolongs my work, since I'm not

busy accomplishing it."

JUNKIE THINKING: "Let's face it. I am a smoker. I always will be."

RESPONSE: "The truth is that you're not a smoker. The only thing that

smokes is the cigarette. You are the sucker though for falling for the

belief that you cannot live without the habit of inhaling smoke. If

everyone who believed at one time they were forever doomed to smoke then

places like AS3 would not exist."