Relapse Always Starts The Same Way
Relapse Always Starts The Same Way
FROM: Troutnut 1 ... posted (2) Years Ago, Circa 2017
It begins with our brain. It’s often called “junkie thinking”. Or sometimes “stinkin thinkin”. Once we become addicts to a drug like nicotine we can no longer trust our brains to act in our own best interests. It becomes part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
Thoughts and feelings are not facts. They are just random, and often dangerous thoughts, manufactured by our addicted brains, in order to get us to ingest nicotine again. The reward center of our brains has become addicted and it will take a long time for it to resume to normal rational thinking.
Every trick in the book is used by our brain in early recovery to get us to give in to nicotine. If we are sad, or mad (two of it’s favorite tricks) it wants us to smoke to make those feelings go away. If we are happy or have accomplished something the brain says “let’s celebrate!”. And if neither of those are going on it say’s “we’re bored. Let’s smoke!”. The addict brain wants to smoke no matter what is going on.
It took me a long time to realize that my brain was actively trying to kill me. I learned to watch it like a bad TV show. “Isn’t that interesting”, I would say to myself. “My brain is trying to kill me again.” I learned that my brain is not “me”. If it was “me” I could just tell it to shut-up, and it would have to listen. But it’s not me, and it doesn’t even listen to me most of the time. So identifying the real problem (my brain) was part, and still is, in my long term recovery.
You’ll know immediately when the brain has accomplished it’s evil work. You’ll know because you will begin thinking those “just one” thoughts. It starts looking like a good idea instead of a tragic end to your quit. We’ve all had thousands of those so I don’t think it needs anymore explaining. So don’t fall for it!
And if you fall for it (just one!) it’s game over for that quit. The brain will have won. And it will become at least twice as hard to quit again because the brain knows it succeeded in selling you death and lies last time. But start again immediately anyway. The longer you wait the bigger the victory for your addict brain.
You can’t control what your brain thinks and doesn't think when it’s after nicotine. But you don’t have to act on it. We get to say “NO!”. And the place to say NO is way before that FIRST sickarette. It’s even way before that FIRST puff of that FIRST sickarette. It’s at the first of the stinkin thinkin thoughts.
No matter what your history, no matter how many times you have tried before, you are totally and completely safe as long as you draw the line just this side of that very FIRST puff. That is where successful quitters always draw the line. They make up their mind in advance. We won’t smoke no matter what. Not even if our A dash dash falls off!
If you don’t take that FIRST puff, one day at a time, it is physically IMPOSSIBLE to fail!
If you don’t take that FIRST puff, just for today, you are absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed to go to bed as a WINNER tonight!
Your friend in Montana
Troutnut1-dennis