from above:

I have a little story to share. Just last night at a wedding reception, I sat next to a friend I hadn't seen in quite some time, she quit smoking cold turkey almost three years ago. We were discussing at length how much better we felt as a result of our staying off cigarettes...etc. I did share a few of our relapse pointers on how important it is to stay away from "that one puff" and that if she ever took "one" that she should be prepared to take them all....etc. She was very receptive and eager to hear about the things I've learned about addiction and the work I do here at Freedom. Next to this woman sat her husband who smoked one after another, it was really sad and quite annoying.image He was listening to our conversation and proceeded to say how much he enjoyed his smoking and that he could quit at any time. His comment was the perfect opening,image so I pulled a 'Joel' on him and asked a few questions following his statement regarding the love and control he had over his smoking. I asked him how much he smoked a day, which turned out to be about twenty cigarettes. I proceeded to reminisce about my old days of smoking and explained my favorite cigarettes of a daily course. (this served to remind him that I hadn't forgotten why I smoked and made him eager to compare stories) Then I asked him to tell me about his favorites, he said his most enjoyable cigarettes were the two he smoked with his morning coffee just before he started working, and then the one after lunch. I really wanted him to think about this so I asked him to elaborate a bit and explain what made those three particular cigarettes so special. He explained that his two early morning cigarettes were great because smoking and coffee went hand in hand and that one after lunch tasted so good after eating and helped him relax before heading back to work. Without interrupting, I allowed this man to do most of the talking, which got my point across all by itself.image He then proceeded to say that he didn't much care for his other cigarettes because once he was home he felt "goofy" smoking in the cold garage alone while the rest of his family remained in the house. It was interesting to hear about all the negative things associated with the other cigarettes that were not his favorites. Remember, this is the man who said he enjoyed smoking. I asked him why he continued to smoke the other seventeen cigarettes if he really only enjoyed three cigarettes a day.image He of course said he couldn't just smoke three a day because he had to smoke them all, for some reason. Ahhhhh, he answered just as expected. So then I explained the implication of addiction and how he had to keep his levels at a certain point to remain comfortable and that his addiction had such a control over him that in order to smoke the three he enjoyed, he had to smoke the ones he didn't want.image He didn't have much to say after that, in fact, there wasn't a need for me to ask him again how much he really enjoyed smoking and just how much control he had over it.
Joanne (Gold)