Have to say I strongly disagree with what Elfinsafety says.
Maybe that’s cos you’ve not read my post properly.
What I’m actually talking about is the ‘forcing’ yourself to stop smoking, and feeling really bad if you do succumb to the odd crafty drag. A ‘relapse’ should not be treated as a failure of character or strength, as this just then leads to the person feeling angry/annoyed/fed-up/depressed. Which then makes them vulnerable, and more susceptible to ‘temptation’.
Instead, if you just say ‘oh well it was just the one and I can still do this’, then you’re going to be more positive about the whole thing. You won’t be suffering the whole self-loathing thing, imagining others are looking at you with disgust and contempt for being such a ‘failure’.
Instead, many people slip up, then just give up giving up, cos it then seems far too difficult.
It’s all about setting realistic personal targets, not going with some unrealisting impossible to achieve plan.
stopping completely is the way to go.
I’ve never seen it work (not to say that it does not in any way, however) for heavy smokers. I’ve only ever seen people who use the gradual reduction method ever completely stop smoking. All the cold turkeys have bin back on the fags by Christmas….
Re’ elfs neighbour, it sounds like he dosnt actually want to give up..knowing you should give up and actually wanting to are two different things, til you actually want to it’ll never happen…
TBH he’s an idiot. He was back at the docs last week complaining of feeling ill. Still drinking and smoking loads though. If he just cut down to 20 a day, and halved his alcohol intake, he’s be much better off. As it is, he’s only 65 and will probbly be dead before he’s 80.
I suggested to him he bought a bike, cos he said he used to ride. He said ‘I can’t afford a bike’. I pointed out to him that for what he spends on fags per month, he could get a nice little bike, even a decent s/h one.
But no. He’d rather drink and smoke himself to death. Not to mention continue to be a burden to the NHS…
