Remember what we said earlier: the Withdrawal Period consists of two different factors:
(1) The chemical addiction – the withdrawal pangs of nicotine which are little more than a craving which come in the form of an empty insecure feeling – a feeling that is experienced physically as if something is missing .
(2) Our psychological addiction and the special occasions that trigger this addiction.
Again – and we promised we would repeat this again and again – the chemical addiction is easy to cope with.
There is no physical pain.
Just an empty feeling.
A temporary feeling of discomfort and lack. A feeling that you are depriving yourself of something special.
Please do not worry about or fear this craving when you stop. In fact, welcome it.
I really mean this.
Open yourself up to all these feelings – because when we have the confidence and the knowledge to stand up to and face this chemical addiction we will discover it's true nature.
It is nothing.
KEY IDEA:
The misery that smokers suffer from has nothing to do with the withdrawal pangs. Sure, they trigger them off but the actual agony is in the mind and is caused by fear and doubt.
Although the withdrawal pangs from nicotine cause no physical pain – do not underestimate their importance.
It is they who trigger off and energize our psychological addiction to smoking, i.e. our deeply-held belief that it is enjoyable and that life will be intolerable if we stop.
But the physical withdrawal symptoms, by themselves, are nothing.
At this stage I want to quote from another one of our students – Sondra.
SONDRA'S STORY
"Even though I read the course and was well-prepared intellectually, I still had a certain amount of fear and apprehension when the time to finally give up arrived.
Can it be really true ?
Will I really be able to cope easily with the physical withdrawal symptoms that used to terrorize me in the past ?
I decided that I would follow exactly the course instructions.
I would not try and repress these feelings, when they came.
I knew for the first few days, I would have these cravings again and again but I just did what the course advised – I opened myself to them.
I said:
'So what……… this is only my body craving nicotine…..the feeling in itself is not bad………….it is only the little twang in my body saying……..'give me my nicotine or if you don't I'll wake up and trigger off all your old fears and beliefs…………….'
But I did not allow myself to react emotionally to these feeling ( I imagined I was a top scientist clinically observing an experiment )…
"Come on you guys," I said to the cravings, "Do the worst you can. It all makes no difference. I am not going to respond to you. I am calling your bluff. You have been exposed………."
………and that was it.
All those terrible withdrawal terrors that had put me off giving up smoking for years were just empty, insubstantial temporary feelings.
I remember that day when the thought – the simple truth just popped into my head….Heaven on earth!
"These feelings, that I am experiencing now are the so-called dreaded ' withdrawal pangs'. That is it. There is nothing else to wait for – AND THEY REALLY ARE NOTHING. I CAN EASILY COPE WITH THEM. I CAN EASILY TOLERATE THEM UNTIL THEY DISAPPEAR FOR EVER. The feeling itself is not bad."
And at that MOMENT – three days into stopping I KNEW I had done it. I could easily cope with these feelings….just my body demanding nicotine……soon they will only be a distant memory…….
I also realized that it was only this fear AND THIS FEAR ALONE that I would suffer terribly if I gave up that had kept me like a prisoner chained to this addiction for nearly twenty years."
Right Frame of Mind
I HOPE YOU CAN GET THIS CLEAR IN YOUR MIND BEFORE YOU GIVE UP.
IT IS VITAL INTO GETTING YOU INTO THE RIGHT FRAME OF MIND SO THAT WHEN YOU DO EXPERIENCE THE WITHDRAWAL PANGS, ESPECIALLY DURING THE FIRST THREE WEEKS, YOU WILL KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DEALING WITH AND YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID AND TRY TO DENY OR REPRESS THESE CRAVING.
The only power they have is to trigger off your psychological dependency, especially at specific times of the day when you are particularly vulnerable……………………..