“I used to smoke 60 cigarettes each day – now, I’d rather chew wasps.” – John Halker

A couple of things about cigarettes and the smoking industry that you may want to think about before you decide to quit.

Each year the UK government alone receives income from smokers of about £11,000,000,000.  The estimated cost to the health service each year is about £6,000,000,000.  The difference goes into the chancellor’s coffers to help balance the books.

Cigarette manufacturers employ some of the most skilled and clever psychologists in the world.  They design packaging, advertisements, campaigns and the colour of the cigarettes themselves, all just to make you want them even more.

If cigarettes were invented today they would never be approved for human consumption, and the inventors would be locked up.

Even amongst the most experienced smoking cessation practitioners there is no agreement to the old argument – addiction or habit.  Having been a dedicated smoker of about 60 cigarettes each day, for many years, I can speak with some authority on the subject, and my answer is that it doesn’t matter.

Why people start smoking is not relevant to quitting.  I believe there are four main reasons why people continue to smoke, even though they know it’s killing them.

Physical Addiction

Most, but not quite all, smokers are addicted to nicotine and to the hundreds of additives which the cigarette manufacturers put into each cigarette.  I believe those additives have one purpose only – to make you crave the next cigarette, and each additive has been approved by EU regulators.  That physical addiction can be overcome much more easily than you think – I’ll show you how. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that administering Nicotine to overcome Nicotine addiction may be a waste of time, or even quite damaging, and with vaping being the worst possible way to do it.

Psychological Addiction

To some users of ‘recreational’ drugs their addiction is as real and powerful as any, but many of those drugs are not the least bit physically addictive, merely a psychological addiction.  Of course, psychological addiction may be as powerful as physical addiction – who is to say but the addict. The only real difference is whether there is physical manifestation of the withdrawal symptoms. The important bit of the jigsaw is the set of tools used to overcome that addiction – I’ll show you how.

Habit

Do you smoke at the same time every day or whilst you have a coffee, a drink, after a meal or during lunch-break.  Many people do unhealthy, illogical and silly things every day, just because they always have.  When something has been part of your life for a very long time it may appear that it could be quite difficult to let it go, even if it is killing you.  But it doesn’t need to be difficult – I’ll show you why.

Fear

Most of us have an inbuilt fear of the unknown, and most smokers can’t remember how good life was as a non-smoker. What’s it going to be like, doing something different, quitting, and being afraid of failing in their attempts to quit?  Most people don’t want to go through the process of quitting – they just want to wake up tomorrow as non-smokers – I’ll help you get rid of that fear.

We will use powerful tools to make the process of quitting much easier than most people think, and some have even found it enjoyable.  I have only ever spoken to one person who regretted quitting.  She was an elderly lady who was very close to me, and she died of emphysema.  For three years she sat in a chair and fought for every breath, terrified it would be her last, but also hoping her suffering would end.  She hoped that by starting to smoke again she would die more quickly.  She started smoking when she was ten-years old, sitting up a tree with her big brother.  She simply cannot believe that cigarettes did all this damage to her because something would have happened to her sooner, wouldn’t it.  She will die soon, having donated tens of thousands of pounds, plus her old-age, to some faceless people in grey suits in cigarette companies.  She was just amazed that companies could sell death in such attractive packaging, and nobody did much to stop them.

Successful people are proactive; that is to say, they do something about a problem before it arises.  Be successful, quit for good, now, before it is too late….

My stop smoking programme does not come with any guarantees at all.  If you want to quit smoking for good you will need to see me for three sessions, each about a week apart, and you will continue to smoke between the first two sessions, but for different reasons and in a different way.

Then you can join the ever-growing ranks of people who lead completely fulfilling, contented lives,  smokefree, easily.