4. It reduces my stress and helps calm me down - It's a lie. When we experience stress it makes our urine become more acidic. As the stressed smoker's urine turns acidic it causes the nicotine in their blood to be metabolized and removed at an accelerated rate. The more stressed the smoker becomes the quicker their blood nicotine level drops. The stressed smoker's rapidly declining blood nicotine level causes them to begin experiencing the discomfort of early nicotine withdrawal. It is here that the stressed smoker says, "I NEED A CIGARETTE!" Within seconds after smoking, their blood nicotine level rises, the anxieties associated with early nicotine withdrawal subside, and the nicotine addict is left with the false impression that smoking helped reduce their stress and calm them down. All non-smokers experience stress in life. The difference is that non-smokers don't have early nicotine withdrawal amplifying their stress. Rising and falling nicotine levels keep all smokers on a life-long anxiety filled roller-coaster ride. In truth, stress nicotine depletion causes smokers to experience far more anxiety than non-smokers.
12. Dad just died, this isn't the time! - Smoking won't bring dad back nor cure any other ill in life. Success in quitting during a period of high stress in life insures that future high stress situations won't serve as your excuse or justification for relapse. If you think about it, if we continue to live we will all see someone we love die. Such is the cycle of life. It's extremely sad but serious illness, injury, or the death of a loved one are the most convincing justifications that quitters sell themselves on, in order to justify keeping their drug. There is no better time to quit than before your next mandatory feeding. Don't allow finances, work, illness, education or relationships to serve as your excuse to remain an active addict. There is no legitimate justification for ever putting nicotine back into our body - none, zero, never!