When we started smoking we did something that our bodies opposed with every means at its disposal.
The inhalation of smoke contradicts everything that our lungs evolved to do and the natural response is to gag and retch, turn green and reject it totally. When we smoke fag number 100,000 our body’s reaction is just the same as that first one. The fag tastes just as awful but we have simply learnt to accept it.
The smoking hasn’t changed, it is our perception of smoking that’s changed.
Luckily there’s a switch in our heads that can be changed from smoker to non-smoker; unfortunately it’s not labelled and finding it is not always straightforward.
Some people quit instantly and painlessly, often due to some external stimulus. Pregnancy, a smoking related death or a Doctor’s grave warning are often the catalyst to quitting smoking. Often a smoker will simply wake up one morning and no longer wish to smoke. Sometimes they start the day as normal but by bedtime have ditched the habit.
Call it an epiphany, a light-bulb moment or finding the switch, either consciously or unconsciously, it doesn’t matter what you call it but it’s an essential goal.

It’s also a massive beacon that needs to illuminate anyone thinking of quitting, struggling with a quit or thinking of leaping off the wagon. Its message is obvious; lots of people quit “just like that”, no side effects, no major withdrawal, no real hassle, done, dusted.

So what are they doing?

Often we labour with our quits, day after day, slowly easing the spring-loaded switch from on to off only to have it leap back to the on position the moment we lose focus. We’re told quitting is hard. Non smokers think quitting is hard. Even school kids think quitting is hard. It’s easy then to assume it must be hard and that we should somehow accept a titanic struggle if we’re to succeed.
Quitters who don’t have a hard time are therefore regarded as somehow freakish.
It’s easy to forget, ignore or disbelieve the fact that of every 100 smokers approaching their GP for help 93 will be smoking 12 months later.
If that system sits comfortably with you feel free to jump on the bus; you may be one of the lucky 7.
Of course, having read this you’ve now more chance of being one of the 7 as it could be that the other 93 will never know we all have a switch!
It would be fabulous if the switch was operated by our conscious and had a big neon label saying, “off”. Sadly it doesn’t. Consciously we may be totally committed to quitting the fags and that’s by far the usual way. We make a conscious decision to try to stop and then follow the path to the best of our ability. If we struggle we already know it’s not meant to be easy and if we fail it just confirms our initial thought that quitting is hard.
Reinforcement of a tough quit is unlikely to make the next one any easier!

We quit in the subconscious. At some point in our conscious quit the subconscious picks up on the message that smoking is no longer an option and the struggle lessens.
The good bit is that it’s not just some wild theory; we can all find people who’ve quit totally painlessly and they tend to be one of the examples shown above.
The bad bit is that even armed with the knowledge it’s hard to find the switch.
Hypnotherapy must be the first port of call as it’s exactly that profession’s job to work with the subconscious. Failing that just the knowledge of why we actually smoke can be enough to flick the switch. Alternatively just lurking in the quitting environment reading forums and blogs can possibly let the subconscious pick up on something of benefit.
Having a big bag of drugs and a conscious desire to quit just puts you at the start of the path, it doesn’t mean you’ll get to take a second step.

Lace up your boots and seek out the switch.