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Addiction, Self-Identity and 1 Day at a Time
Physical addiction to nicotine is simple. The proper amount of nicotine must be present in a body to avoid the onset of withdrawal. Conquering the physical addiction to nicotine is unpleasant but lasts only 72 hours.
The psychological component to quitting is the journey, the journey of inventing a new self-identity…The Quitter. Notice the vets say, I AM QUIT. They are not “quitting”; they ARE quit. It is a state of being. The psychological term is “Identity Development”. There is no try, there is. Just as addiction can have such a hold on you that it becomes part of your identity, “Quit” can be who you are now.
Observe the addict that is contemplating quitting but would rather quit tomorrow or next week. You see, 72 hours of physical withdrawal is nothing to the addict because the addict has been managing physical withdrawal symptoms the entire duration of the addiction. What is scary? Can the addict fundamentally change his/her Self-Identity? Can the addict quit for the rest of his/her life? Now those questions can scare a potential quitter into choosing addiction over freedom.
There is good news friend. You do not have to quit for the rest of your life. You do not have to fundamentally change your self-identity. You simply choose to quit today. Do not worry about baseball next March. Do not worry about next monthÂ’s exams. Do not worry about TuesdayÂ’s deadline. Quit today for today. The body will adjust. The psyche will adjust. You will gradually and often unnoticeably reinvent what it is to be you. You shall be restored one day at a time.
