What's your reason to Quit?

Before I came to be a full-time coach, speaker and trainer for the Wright Foundation, I was a therapist specializing in addictions and mental health issues. My favorite challenge was to help groups of people overcome the smoking addiction. I quit smoking myself at age 25 and I understand just how terribly hard it is, and that it can be done.

While I don’t currently work with a lot of smokers, I was pleased to recently have one of my clients come out of the closet with this habit. He believed that his doctor was getting ready to put the kabash on his smoking, and he asked if I could help him. Sure, I had many tips for him. There are hundreds of books, programs, websites and apps out there, all with very helpful tips, tools, techniques and information about quitting smoking. But what is the first step?

You have to have a compelling reason – a purpose. You must know the why behind your goal of quitting. Do you want to smell good so that your girlfriend wants to kiss you? Do you want to feel proud about overcoming this habit? Are you tired of huffing and puffing? Mine was this: I wanted to know what I was feeling. I realized that every time I had a cigarette there was an emotion I was numbing, and I wanted to learn more about my feelings and actually feel them! Essentially, I wanted to care about knowing myself.

This reason helped me in challenging times through my quit period which was about a year. I had a bigger purpose to orient to when I was going through withdrawal and ready to cave. Your brain yearns for a bigger purpose to help you through these momentary cravings, and it really is all that works. Orienting to the purpose drives you to use all the tips, tools and techniques of quitting.

Oh, and the other tip I had for him: buy lots of cinnamon sticks. They are the same shape roughly as a cigarette and work well to keep in your mouth until you overcome the habit. Hmm...now that I think about it, I wonder if cinnamon sticks help with a sugar addiction? That's my next one. Although, if I take my own advice, I think I need to work first on my purpose before embarking on that challenge!