Reframing How You Feel About Quitting Nicotine
Until you change the way you look at things, those things will never change.
We’ve talked to a LOT of people who have reduced or quit their nicotine addiction. While each story is unique, there are common threads among their successes. Over and over again, they tell us that three crucial shifts in mindset must occur:
- You have to make this decision yourself.
- You have to be excited to quit and all in, there is no halfway.
- You have to believe you will break free from tobacco and nicotine.
Here’s a fact for you: many former tobacco and nicotine users are not successful the first time they try to quit. Why? None of them admit to actually being ready to quit the first time. They almost always say they did it for someone else. They wanted to make Mom proud. Their spouse was begging them.
“There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either in or out. There's no such thing as a life in between.”
-Pat Riley
If you are going to stop using tobacco and nicotine, or build any new habit for that matter, the change has to come from something internal in you and not someone external who tells you to do it. Many of our customers report actually quitting because they realized they were worried about the example they were setting for their kids.
"What if my kids start noticing I am using tobacco and nicotine? What if my addiction actually led to cancer? It is not worth the risk…"
These statements create changes from within. Everyone knows tobacco and nicotine isn’t healthy, what leads to a change is when you reframe your feelings about tobacco and nicotine as something that used to benefit you in some way but no longer do. In fact, they are actually causing you stress, worry, and discomfort if you continue using them.
You Should Be Excited to Quit
Your brain is very good at playing tricks on you. When you think about quitting, your 300,000-year-old-caveman-brain tries to “protect” you from the fear and danger of the unknown. When it detects that you are doing something outside of your “normal” operating procedure it triggers an error message: it brings up fears, experiences, and other ways to persuade NOT to change. Your old brain's way of protecting you is to do the same thing that has kept you alive to this point and never change.
Luckily, your new brain, or at least what scientists have discovered about your new brain, has a way to change this response: shift your fears and uncertainties into excitement and anticipation. As it turns out, fear and excitement feel similar physically… it’s just your perception of whether what happens next is good or bad that distinguishes the two. Use that energy to get motivated and take action.
You are about to break free from an enduring addiction to nicotine. You will soon start noticing physical improvements and you’ll have more money in your pocket. Most of all, you’ll start to fully experience all the joy that life has to offer because you won’t be constantly consumed with getting your next hit of nicotine. Get excited for your Quit Date and all the benefits of quitting nicotine! Picture yourself, tobacco free, nicotine free, and worry free living healthier mentally and physically.
Tell Yourself Everyday... You Are NOT Dependent on Tobacco
People who are addicted to nicotine often come to accept the notion of being dependent on it for the rest of their lives. The idea of becoming tobacco-free is a fantasy to them, and one that they believe can never come true. Don’t buy that bullshit for a second. If you want to change, you need to bulletproof your brain to believe you will.
The truth is that anyone addicted to tobacco and nicotine can kick it to the curb, but only when they change their mindset to see that it doesn’t benefit them. That’s more than half the battle of quitting!
You can do this, you control your nicotine addiction, not the other way around. Get your mind right, get your life right.
“If you fight for your limitations, then you get to keep them.”
Replace Fear With Facts
Like most things in life, quitting nicotine and tobacco seems like a very daunting task. Once you take the time to learn from people who’ve done it before you, the unknowns become less scary and the end goal looks more attainable. Replace your fears with facts, and you’ll have all the tools you need to face this nicotine monster head on. Using Grinds as a chewing tobacco alternative will help you start your journey.
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