Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr Page B

reason for this is that these days it is impossible to light up whenever you want. As a consequence, smokers go through periods of enforced abstinence throughout the day. As I mentioned, many ‘special’ cigarettes come after a period of abstinence during which the ‘itch’ to smoke has grown and grown. When at last the smoker can scratch the ‘itch’ and light up, the relief is enormous. In effect, these types of smoking restrictions make smokers believe that every cigarette is precious, and that the most important thing on the planet is the next cigarette. However, to a non-smoker it is obvious that the only thing the smoker is getting from the cigarette is temporary relief of the aggravation of needing to smoke.
    As an aside, it is interesting to note and also ironic that cigarettes only seem precious to us when we aren’t smoking. When we are smoking, we take it for granted and we’re barely even aware that we are doing it. It’s only when we can’t do it that it seems so precious. What a ridiculous state of affairs...
    This trend of increased restrictions on smoking is set to continue. Already it is virtually impossible to smoke anywhere in California, and despite the many millions of dollars spent by tobacco companies fighting the establishment of smoking by-laws, thousands of municipalities across the country have implemented or are in the process of implementing similar smoke-free legislation. Gone are the days when you could just light up in a friend’s home or a restaurant. Many smokers even have a self-imposed restriction that they won’t smoke in their own home. Smokers assimilate these restrictions into their routines out of necessity, but surely the question we should be asking is: ‘Why?’ What is it that the cigarette gives us that is so wonderful that we are prepared to give up our freedom and be treated like a second-class citizen?
    I hated being dominated and controlled in this way. I was in control of every area of my life except for smoking. The cigarette was deciding where I could go, what I could do, when I could do it and with whom.
    I remember that during my smoking days, every time I went to church, it was an ordeal. Even during my own daughter’s wedding, when I should have been standing there a proud parent, what was I doing? I was thinking, ‘Let’s get on with it, so I can get outside and have a smoke’.
    I can also remember playing indoor bowls in the winter and pretending to have a weak bladder in order to nip off for a quick smoke. No, this wasn’t a fourteen-year-old schoolboy but a forty-year-old chartered accountant. How pathetic. And even when I was back playing the game I wasn’t enjoying it. I was looking forward to the finish so that I could smoke again, yet this was supposed to be my way of relaxing and enjoying myself.
    I can’t even begin to remember how many meals smoking ruined for me. It’s funny that we tell ourselves that we enjoy the one after a meal, but the truth is that smoking ruins meals because all you can think about is wolfing down your food as quickly as possible so that you can get back to smoking.
    To me one of the tremendous joys of being a non-smoker is to be free from that slavery, to be able to enjoy the whole of my life, not spending half of it not smoking and wishing I could and the other half smoking, wishing I didn’t have to. This is a tremendous burden that the smoker carries around with them and it feels wonderful when at last it is lifted from your shoulders.

C HAPTER 16
I ’LL S AVE $ X E VERY W EEK
    I cannot repeat often enough that it is the brainwashing that makes it difficult to stop smoking. Many smokers don’t realize this so they need to use variations of the willpower method. The more brainwashing we can remove before you start on your wonderful new life free from the slavery of smoking, the easier and more enjoyable you will find the process.
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