Lighting Up

Some people are instantly addicted to nicotine like some cats love catnip. Some people become addicted to nicotine over time, and for others, the chemical addiction is never the issue. For some, it is purely a social activity. It becomes okay to talk, or to just stand around in silence, and “share” the smoking. It’s a reason to create a group that others cannot enter, and enjoy the power of peer pressure. It satisfies the need of belonging, and is the glue that binds a group together. It’s all about the aesthetic. For others, it’s all about doing something. When they are not busy their mind will wander, they may become nervous, or their brain becomes distracted, and like biting your nails, it becomes something to do absent-mindedly while your brain works.

If you are in the middle of the habit though, you only really see it from your own paradigm. You have your reasons for smoking, and smoking began as a way to solve a problem/issue/fill a void in your life, and over time became a habit. So rewind, and figure out what it was for you. Now for fear of losing my audience, I will try not to mention the reasons for not smoking. People know those already.

Maybe the more important thing about smoking is that it began for a reason; it really did solve a problem. Maybe that is the same with all addictions. Stopping smoking can be scary, it can result in the resurgence of the physical, social, and behavioral symptoms that you began to smoke in order to fix. So that brings you face to face with your own reality. Why did I start to smoke, and it’s not just quitting for some, but also now I have these problems back, and what am I going to do to fix these issues/problems? I’ll just reach for a … Umm, let me think about it. While I’m thinking, I’ll just go out for a … Crap. Okay, this isn’t working.

For some, it’s finding an image, and sticking with it. One guy I worked with at Canadian Tire was telling me one time the story of how he quit smoking. One of his duties was to clean up the parking lot, and it was through cleaning up the cigarette butts, and picturing putting all those cigarette butts, along with all the other garbage that he swept up, into his system, that made him quit. I applaud him for his strength, as that image alone was something he held onto to force himself to break his habit. He was a good guy; nice to talk to, and had some very interesting insights if you took the time to listen to him.

In another case, my instructor from SCAS is a perfect example of just finding something else, at least during the workday, to fill the void. You will always find something. He smoked only a few years ago. A lot has changed in his life over the past five years, including even taking the position as an instructor for the SCAS program in the first place. When he started that position, he still smoked. I don’t know who he was before, but right now I knew him to be someone who was a pretty good teacher, and who thoroughly enjoyed carpentry and renovations. He also loved joking around, and had so many stories to tell. He shared all these jokes with the class all the time, and I really learned a lot from him. I don’t know what exactly he put in the void of the cigarettes, but I know that he always had energy, and he didn’t have a minute in his day to spare. So he definitely filled his time with something. Maybe he just learned to do more of what he did before, and like pouring too much concrete into a form, or gaps in the footings between the form and the earth, his better habits, and his outgoing energetic personality just spilled over. Is he a good example? What, of a saint – no! But he is at least an example of someone who said “bugger this, I’m quitting, and I will bloody well survive just fine without smoking”, and he does.

Apparently he was all about the smoking before, even making benches in the “smoking hut” for him and his students who smoked. Now he is spending his time making shelves for his daughters instead. Pretty damn cool, I think. Proof that quitting is possible? Definitely.