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Stupid condescending article. Anybody who thinks quitting smoking is just a question of "realizing you don't want it anymore" has never tried to quit smoking.

Nevermark 5y ago
Obviously it isn't "just a question", but the article didn't say that. It simply points out that how we frame, and experience, our own motivations for quitting can be more or less helpful. I think anything mentally difficult is going to work better if we take into account our subconscious as a first class partner. Our subconscious responds very strongly to how we perceive tasks and challenges. It can carry us through tough situations, but is very hard to work against. Sometimes subtle, almost nonsensical things from a purely rational point of view, really help.
andy_ppp 5y ago
It depends, the Allen Carr book everyone recommends tries to make you see that without directly telling you that smoking is disgusting etc. The thing for me that allowed me to give up was realising and convincing myself that it was possible for the cravings to go away, to feel normal in a pub without smoking etc. It seemed impossible at some point so I always went back to it before.
- telxosser 5y ago
  Same for me. I quit for good ten years ago by basically convincing myself it would be easy after so many times trying to quit I lost count. Of course it really wasn't easy but that mindset let me not give in to the cravings. I do think when you internalize quitting as something that is super difficult it just gives ammunition for all those mind games to give in. I was also watching this Navy SEAL buds training at the time and the one guy Travis Lively was using that strategy. Convincing himself that Navy SEAL hell week was really not that bad. I love that guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVxhm7jkN0k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVxhm7jkN0k
barrystaes 5y ago
There is only 3 ways that i can think of. Either forget/lose the routine without thought, or observe/choose to quit, or being deprived by others. Only the realisation and choice is definitive. Thats the quit. There is no try. I decided to quit once. If your quit failed, you just didnt fully realise yet.
CraigJPerry 5y ago
Anec data: i smoked for 4 years. For 3.5 of those i was trying to give up - somehow once i entered the consciously trying hard to give up stage, i went from 10 a day to 20-30 per day. Patches, gums, sprays (throat one, nasal one), cold turkey, herbal cigs, gamification, the little ball pellet things that were briefly on the market as a better gum alternative in the early 2000s, electric cig (not the modern e-cigs, the early 2000’s terrible ones), having a quit buddy, joining an nhs smoking cessation group… I was not playing at giving up. I was latching on to anything that I’d heard worked for someone. I was distraught mentally. To top it all off, i couldn’t actually afford smoking as a student, i was accruing debt. The only 2 things i refused to try were a “stupid” book (easyway by allen carr) - how dumb do you have to be to let a book reprogram your mind, I’m too smart for that. Also i avoided hypnotherapy for the same reason. I finally read that book. I quit smoking (easily) before the half way mark in the book. No will power, nothing. I was just a non smoker now. I don’t smoke, i don’t think about it ever, it doesn’t bother me to be near smokers, there’s no triggers i have to avoid etc etc im just a plain non smoker. That book uses the same approach laid out at the start of this article.
- cyberpunk 5y ago
  If you enjoy a beer now and again I would avoid his quitting drinking one, it completely ruins that for you too. Why they don’t just give out copies of easyway on the health service I don’t know, sure worked for everyone I know who has used it.
- justinator 5y ago
  Good for you! I hope you've allow yourself celebration for kicking the habit!
lookalike74 5y ago
You're being too kind, this article is woo bullshit. Addiction at its core is having lost the power of choice and recovery is finding a way to regain it. But to most people that sounds like just another choice to make - they completely don't get it.
cyberpunk 5y ago
I’m smoke free for 8 days, and it was very much a question of realising I didn’t want it anymore. I wouldn’t generalise on such things though, everyone is different.
- justinator 5y ago
  Heck yeah! KEEP GOING!
dahart 5y ago
> Stupid condescending article Don’t mistake a ‘here’s the trick’ with ‘it’s so easy’, the article wasn’t claiming it’s easy. And don’t take advice as a personal affront. The true and valid point this article is making is that changing a behavior is a mental game you play with your mind, not a physical one, and that “willpower” and “discipline” doesn’t work before fully convincing yourself of your goals. You have to figure out how to truly convince yourself the old behavior isn’t what you want, and the new behavior is your goal. Not in a contradicting yourself kind of way, but in a deep and true believe it with your whole body way. I think you’re actually making the exact same point underneath your disagreement, that focusing on quitting is too hard, and there’s more to it.
- schwartzworld 5y ago
  Sure, if they are arguing to apply to things that are mostly psychologically addictive. It's smoking is a physical addiction and a really hard one to break.
  - dahart 5y ago
    I think something being physically addictive only increases the mental difficulty of overcoming the addiction, no? It’s not physically hard to go through withdrawal, it just sucks.
pixelrevision 5y ago
Lol yup. The advice here is about as practical as “just have 1 smoke a week so you can enjoy it”. A lot of people just don’t get the difference between an addiction and a bad habit.
astura 5y ago
I think everyone's experiences are different. I have a friend who left his toxic wife. Immediately after that he quit smoking cold turkey without even trying. He said that with his ex-wife out of his life he just didn't feel like he needed to smoke anymore. Myself - I don't find caffeine addictive in any way.

Nevermark 5y ago

Obviously it isn't "just a question", but the article didn't say that. It simply points out that how we frame, and experience, our own motivations for quitting can be more or less helpful. I think anything mentally difficult is going to work better if we take into account our subconscious as a first class partner. Our subconscious responds very strongly to how we perceive tasks and challenges. It can carry us through tough situations, but is very hard to work against. Sometimes subtle, almost nonsensical things from a purely rational point of view, really help.

andy_ppp 5y ago

It depends, the Allen Carr book everyone recommends tries to make you see that without directly telling you that smoking is disgusting etc. The thing for me that allowed me to give up was realising and convincing myself that it was possible for the cravings to go away, to feel normal in a pub without smoking etc. It seemed impossible at some point so I always went back to it before.

telxosser 5y ago
Same for me. I quit for good ten years ago by basically convincing myself it would be easy after so many times trying to quit I lost count. Of course it really wasn't easy but that mindset let me not give in to the cravings. I do think when you internalize quitting as something that is super difficult it just gives ammunition for all those mind games to give in. I was also watching this Navy SEAL buds training at the time and the one guy Travis Lively was using that strategy. Convincing himself that Navy SEAL hell week was really not that bad. I love that guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVxhm7jkN0k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVxhm7jkN0k

barrystaes 5y ago

There is only 3 ways that i can think of. Either forget/lose the routine without thought, or observe/choose to quit, or being deprived by others. Only the realisation and choice is definitive. Thats the quit. There is no try. I decided to quit once. If your quit failed, you just didnt fully realise yet.

CraigJPerry 5y ago

Anec data: i smoked for 4 years. For 3.5 of those i was trying to give up - somehow once i entered the consciously trying hard to give up stage, i went from 10 a day to 20-30 per day. Patches, gums, sprays (throat one, nasal one), cold turkey, herbal cigs, gamification, the little ball pellet things that were briefly on the market as a better gum alternative in the early 2000s, electric cig (not the modern e-cigs, the early 2000’s terrible ones), having a quit buddy, joining an nhs smoking cessation group… I was not playing at giving up. I was latching on to anything that I’d heard worked for someone. I was distraught mentally. To top it all off, i couldn’t actually afford smoking as a student, i was accruing debt. The only 2 things i refused to try were a “stupid” book (easyway by allen carr) - how dumb do you have to be to let a book reprogram your mind, I’m too smart for that. Also i avoided hypnotherapy for the same reason. I finally read that book. I quit smoking (easily) before the half way mark in the book. No will power, nothing. I was just a non smoker now. I don’t smoke, i don’t think about it ever, it doesn’t bother me to be near smokers, there’s no triggers i have to avoid etc etc im just a plain non smoker. That book uses the same approach laid out at the start of this article.

cyberpunk 5y ago
If you enjoy a beer now and again I would avoid his quitting drinking one, it completely ruins that for you too. Why they don’t just give out copies of easyway on the health service I don’t know, sure worked for everyone I know who has used it.
justinator 5y ago
Good for you! I hope you've allow yourself celebration for kicking the habit!

lookalike74 5y ago

You're being too kind, this article is woo bullshit. Addiction at its core is having lost the power of choice and recovery is finding a way to regain it. But to most people that sounds like just another choice to make - they completely don't get it.

cyberpunk 5y ago

I’m smoke free for 8 days, and it was very much a question of realising I didn’t want it anymore. I wouldn’t generalise on such things though, everyone is different.

justinator 5y ago
Heck yeah! KEEP GOING!

dahart 5y ago

> Stupid condescending article Don’t mistake a ‘here’s the trick’ with ‘it’s so easy’, the article wasn’t claiming it’s easy. And don’t take advice as a personal affront. The true and valid point this article is making is that changing a behavior is a mental game you play with your mind, not a physical one, and that “willpower” and “discipline” doesn’t work before fully convincing yourself of your goals. You have to figure out how to truly convince yourself the old behavior isn’t what you want, and the new behavior is your goal. Not in a contradicting yourself kind of way, but in a deep and true believe it with your whole body way. I think you’re actually making the exact same point underneath your disagreement, that focusing on quitting is too hard, and there’s more to it.

schwartzworld 5y ago
Sure, if they are arguing to apply to things that are mostly psychologically addictive. It's smoking is a physical addiction and a really hard one to break.
- dahart 5y ago
  I think something being physically addictive only increases the mental difficulty of overcoming the addiction, no? It’s not physically hard to go through withdrawal, it just sucks.

pixelrevision 5y ago

Lol yup. The advice here is about as practical as “just have 1 smoke a week so you can enjoy it”. A lot of people just don’t get the difference between an addiction and a bad habit.

astura 5y ago

I think everyone's experiences are different. I have a friend who left his toxic wife. Immediately after that he quit smoking cold turkey without even trying. He said that with his ex-wife out of his life he just didn't feel like he needed to smoke anymore. Myself - I don't find caffeine addictive in any way.