Giant, talking cigarette.
Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.
Mark Twain
Sound familiar? I bet it does. Let’s be honest – if giving up anything that was bad for us and caused us health problems was just about willpower, we’d rapidly see declining rates in obesity, heart disease, type two diabetes, certain cancers and lung disease. But…we don’t. Because it’s human to want things, even when we know they’re bad for us, for a whole variety of reasons.
It doesn’t make you a failure.
Let me say that again. It doesn’t matter if you’ve tried to stop smoking once, twice, or you think Mark Twain’s attempts were a conservative estimate compared to yours – you are not a failure.
You are human.
Maybe you’re a social smoker and you only do it on nights out, or when you’ve had a drink. It gives you a sense of security and confidence. If you’re not sure where you belong, you can gravitate to the other smokers. You can strike up a conversation over a lighter, spark a chat about cigarette brands, light up an interaction by sharing a joke and a smoke. But if you’re smoking to compensate for social anxiety or discomfort, consider letting me help you tackle that issue alongside smoking cessation – and work towards being the best version of yourself, and participating fully and confidently in your social interactions.
Smoking might be your chosen form of stress relief – and for many people, it is. How many times have you told a colleague, a partner, a friend that you’re going for a breath of fresh air? It’s smoking’s favourite euphemism, isn’t it? But in spite of this, smoking is actually known to increase stress – whereas I can help you to both stop smoking and to establish reliable stress-management techniques through breathing exercises which will help you to gain control over those physiological symptoms of anxiety quickly, effectively and in any situation. You won’t have to go and stand in the rain to use my techniques, either.
Maybe smoking is a habit you’d like to break. Research from University College London discovered that it takes an average of 66 days to break a habit (though it can be as many as 254). 66 days is a long time to crave something. A long time to resist it. In fact – even one day is a long time to resist a craving. A craving nudges you, nags at you, needles you. Remember when Chandler called Monica a “giant talking cigarette”? Spot on.
You might even call it an addiction. Calling it that makes it seem outwith your control. It means you can’t stop. Actually, though, the addictive potential from smoking is only 10% – therefore, 90% of it is just habit – it’s in your brain. How, you ask? Well, smoking depletes the feel-good chemical serotonin, and the brain clings to the chemicals in cigarettes as a substitute. Solution focused hypnotherapy can help you to re-balance your serotonin levels and move away from craving that unhelpful, unhealthy replacement through a one-off stop smoking session, designed to allow you to leave as a non-smoker. And doesn’t that sound better than 254 days? Or 66? Or even one?
Whatever the reason you smoke, the fact that you’re here, reading this, makes me think that maybe you want to change. Maybe you don’t want to be a smoker any more. But maybe you’re also tired of trying, and trying, and trying again, to break the habit. Here’s the thing though: you don’t have to do it alone.
If you don’t want to smoke anymore – or live the rest of your life like Mark Twain – contact me to help you stop smoking for good, starting with just one smoking cessation session. Let a cigarette-free life be your real breath of fresh air, and let me help you move towards being the best version of yourself, starting today.
I look forward to helping you light up your future….
