Currently I feel miserable, a low mood that I know very well, however I think it's important to share this with you. Luckily I started writing the majority of this post before this patch hit...
I've suffered from bouts of depression off and on since my early teens, maybe even earlier (probably before I knew what it was) and my train of thought stops there... it's a difficult subject to describe, so I'm not going to try to. More importantly though, is I suffered from bouts of depression BEFORE, DURING and AFTER I smoked.
Depression itself is a very difficult thing to live with, anyone who has gone, or is going through it (whether it be a single episode, or recurrent cycles) will tell you it's nothing you'd choose to experience. I, like a lot of smokers I knew at the time, worried about how I'd cope with periods of stress, especially my cycles of depression and low-mood, without nicotine. I, like everyone else, had been brainwashed into believing that cigarettes were a 'crutch', something that helped relieve stress when you were going through a bad patch. I successfully quit in 2003 - 8 months of blissful, craving free, sociable and happy smoke free days*, until an illness in the immediate family brought me right back to square one. I had a few drinks, and decided I needed a cigarette to "get me through it".
Did a cigarette help? No.
Since Allen Carr's Easyway relieved me of the false belief that cigarettes are a crutch, I find that the depression is actually slightly easier to deal with (hey, you take what you can get with depression, right!?). When I'm feeling like crap, the last thing I want is to be spending my time wondering when I can get my next fix of nicotine! Worrying that I was going to run out of cigarettes! Worrying I was going to run out of money to buy more cigarettes! I hated smoking and feeling the guilt that I was addicted, that I knew these things were bad for my health, and ultimately ruling my life.
Add all of these things, the stress of spending money I didn't have, coughing my guts up, and the feeling of guilt and failure, to depression and it is pretty easy to realise that cigarettes do NOT help!
So. Imagine you could give up cigarettes without worry, without stress AND without withdrawal symptoms! Imagine you could then go through a depressive episode without all the extra worries that go hand-in-hand with Nicotine addiction! Imagine you could go through a depressive episode without feeling any negative effects from having quit nicotine entirely!
What's stopping you?
TQQ!
*Another blog for another time on why I still refer to this period as a successful nicotine-cessation period!
Disclaimer: I am aware that depression affects everyone differently so this piece is subjective on this point, however the intention of this blog post is to highlight how smoking/nicotine cessation can be a positive thing during these times. The statements made are based on the effects of NICOTINE ADDICTION, and are not to be taken in any way, shape or form, as treatment or prevention of depression.
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