Why is Quitting Smoking Supposed to Be So Hard?

Quitting smoking is something that is very commonly misunderstood. Some people think that it's wonderfully easy and can be accomplished simply by slapping a few nicotine patches on and calling it a day. Some people, on the other hand, think that it's absolutely impossible and that once you start smoking, you're pretty much screwed for life.

Oddly enough, both of those are mostly incorrect, the former more-so than the latter. Nicotine patches don't work because they don't treat the underlying causes of how a smoking addiction works. Instead, they treat the physical symptoms of addiction that, honestly, don't really amount to much more than an upset stomach and a bit of irritability. Most important to know about the physical withdrawal symptoms of smoking, though, is that they don't directly drive you to have a cigarette unless you've made that connection yourself.

Read that a few times. The symptoms of physical withdrawal from nicotine won't directly drive you to smoke. They won't make you want to buy cigarettes, they won't make you think about cigarettes, they'll just make you miserable and cranky for a while. Of course, having people around that say "Joe, you're a pain in the butt. Have a cigarette and calm down" isn't really helping, and having that cigarette helps your mind associate those symptoms with smoking, but by themselves they won't drive you to smoke.

As for the impossible thing? You've heard of people quitting smoking and moving on with their lives, so it can't be impossible. On the other hand, if you've tried quitting cold turkey (or using one of the commonly hawked nicotine replacements) you're probably feeling like you're never going to be able to quit.

Think back to when you first smoked a cigarette. It tasted awful, and you probably coughed a lot (and your friends probably laughed). You kept up with it, though, because everybody else was doing it and, hey, there has to be a reason why all these people are smoking. There has to be some unseen benefit to smoking that makes everybody want to smoke so much.

Now think of the time when you said, "You know, I want to be addicted to smoking." You won't be able to, because nobody ever decides that they want to be addicted to smoking. It kind of creeps up on you, similar to when your mother in law stops by.

This is how everybody gets addicted to smoking. They're either taught by their friends, the media, or their parents that smoking is, for some reason, a necessary part of life. You might have a depressed family member who you always see smoking. Even non-smokers associate stress with cigarettes, because somehow they're supposed to make you feel better.

So, what happens when those non-smokers get stressed enough? They bum a cigarette off of somebody, and pick up the habit, because they believe that smoking will "calm your nerves" or something like that, so they keep smoking, hacking and coughing all along the way, and before they know it they're addicted.