5 Reasons Why Smokers Find it Difficult to Quit Smoking (HARD TO QUIT)

4 Reasons Why Smokers Find it Difficult to Quit Smoking (HARD TO QUIT) - Featured Image

Nicotine lovers like to talk about how smoking relaxes them and makes them ‘happy.’

But…

How can we be truly be relaxed unless we were not-so-relax in the first place? 

How can we be happier unless we were previously not-so-happy? 

Why are non-smokers relaxed and happy after a meal whereas smokers are feeling the complete opposite until they smoke a cigarette?

This is the biggest lie a smoker falls into…

He believes smoking gives him an intrinsic pleasure. 

But does it? 

Find out more about nicotine here:

In this post, we will cover the 5 biggest obstacles that are stopping smokers from quitting (not just temporarily abstaining from smoking, that’s torture).

The information below might be counterintuitive to what you have believed in the past so be sure to have a clear mind before proceeding…

Ready? 

Let’s start with the first reason…

5 Reasons Why Smokers Find it Hard to Quit Smoking by Quit With Nerd (edited)


  1. Believe that Smoking Gives Them ‘Pleasure’ or that Smoking is ‘Enjoyable’

Smoking does not give us any real pleasure. The pleasure we derived from nicotine is counterfeit.

The only ‘enjoyment’ a smoker gets is from the withdrawal created by the previous cigarette.

It is like a never-ending cycle to feel normal.

*Normal = To experience the feeling before a smoker lights up his/her first cigarette. 

You and I started smoking for a variety of stupid reasons but the only reason why we carry on smoking is to satisfy nicotine withdrawal. 

This is true regardless if we are a ‘casual’ or a hardcore heavy smoker.

Allow me to enlighten you by using a very simplified and easy-to-understand graph… oh man, I love graphs! 

Nicotine Withdrawal Simplified Bar Chart - Quit With Nerd
The truth is smokers have more stress in their lives due to the constant distraction of nicotine withdrawal (red)

Next, we have to understand nicotine is a very fast-acting drug. 

Just ONE cigarette is enough to get an adult addicted and ONE puff to get an ex-smoker hooked again.

Nevertheless, nicotine also leaves our bodies very quickly. 

A cigarette has enough nicotine to last us for around 45 minutes, therefore, it is not a surprise that most smokers smoke an average of 20 cigarettes per day.

If you look at the graph, the stress level will return every 45 minutes to 10 (red).

When we smoke, we feel ‘better’ (stress decreases from 10 to 6) because we temporarily satisfy our withdrawal.

Is this true pleasure? 

Nope, this is slavery. 

It is very easy to give cigarettes credit for everything and the blame for nothing if we don’t understand this phenomenon. 

We smoke just so we could feel like a non-smoker; this is not true pleasure.

Truth is, we should blame cigarettes for causing all the undue stresses in the first place.

If you believe smoking gives you pleasure than allow me to tickle you every 45 minutes just so you could get the ‘pleasure’ of recovering from the painful laughter.

More About Nicotine Withdrawal
Find out more about nicotine withdrawal by reading this and this

As long as we continue to believe in the lies of nicotine, we will NEVER truly be a happy non-smoker. 

All we might do is temporarily abstain ourselves from our clutch (and envy smokers).

Let’s first learn to see:

  1. There are absolutely NO advantages to smoking.
  2. When we see NO advantages to smoking, we will have NO desire to smoke.
  3. As a consequence, we will NOT need any willpower to quit smoking (or anything at all) when we have NO desire to do it.

That is how you can be a happy non-smoker and not envy smokers at all. On the contrary, I think you might pity them a lot. 


  1. Fail to Understand that Nicotine Withdrawal is Mild

Many smokers have this delusion that they have to go through hell on earth to quit smoking.

They believe they have to make a tremendous sacrifice in order to be or remain smoke-free.

However, this is obviously another fallacy. A powerful lie that is stopping many smokers on their tracks.

We have been bombarded by friends, coworkers and even health establishments that quitting is difficult and that we have to go through serious withdrawal symptoms such as:

  • Depression
  • Insomnia 
  • Headaches 
  • even suicidal thoughts 
  • and many more

The truth is most of these withdrawals are entirely mental. 

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.” – Henry Ford

I am not saying these withdrawals wouldn’t happen… what I am saying is our thoughts have the power to make us suffer hell on earth if and when we allow it.

Our way of thinking creates good or bad outcomes. - Stephen Richards Click To Tweet

Here is a fact we need to accept starting from this moment:

withdrawal from nicotine is extremely mild

So mild that most smokers go through withdrawals their entire life without even them knowing.

The truth is if withdrawal from nicotine is as serious as they claimed then this substance would have been banned long ago along with other drugs like cocaine, meth, heroin, etc. that have serious withdrawal effects.

To put it simply, nicotine withdrawal is just a slightly empty feeling. Like something isn't quite right. Click To Tweet
  1. Believe that Quitting Has to be Difficult

When we deprive ourselves of something we believe is pleasurable, we will suffer. Period.

This is the case for EVERYTHING; NOT just smoking.

Let’s say you love to have sex and you have been abstaining yourself from having sex for a said period of time, chances are you will have insomnia, headaches or even depression if it’s prolonged.

Quite similar to when we are abstaining from having our daily nicotine intake.

Nicotine is an incredibly fast-acting drug. It comes and leaves our bodies very quickly.

In just 3 days, we are close to 100% nicotine-free.

Read: What Happens When We Quit Smoking (Quit-smoking Timeline)

After this, it is mostly mental.

Quitting smoking is easy; the battle with my mind is not

Unfortunately, I see ex-smokers who are still craving to smoke after 3 weeks, 3 months, or even 3 years after smoking their last cigarette.

FYI: It is not possible for nicotine withdrawal to cause such devastating harm when it has left our body a long time ago. 

Truth is, these ex-smokers have not really quit smoking; all they are really doing is merely abstaining.

That’s torture.

That’s hell on earth. 

This is sad because as long as we believe we are depriving ourselves of our ‘pleasure,’ we will suffer indefinitely.

That is why it is so important we know these:

  1. First, know that cigarettes do not give us any real pleasure
  2. Second, understand that withdrawal is mild
  3. Third, realize that quitting can be very easy (it has mostly to do with our minds)

The next reason is…


  1. Fail to Understand Smoking Will NEVER Be Enough

I was a smoker once and I failed to quit smoking many times due to imaginations that are somewhat similar to these:

  • “I just need ONE cigarette… Just need to prove to myself I am strong to quit it later”
  • “How I wish I could smoke ONE cigarette because I am stress now.” 

Truth is, it will never be just ONE.

In fact, it will never be ENOUGH regardless of how many cigarettes I’ve smoked.

Read: Cold Turkey: The Danger of Using Willpower to Quit Smoking (MY STORY)

Smoking is a game we are bound to lose for sure… 100% of the time.

We can smoke 100 cigarettes per day and still it would not be enough. On the contrary, we will need to smoke more to feel normal.

This is just the bloody nature of nicotine.

Smoking is NOT a habit; it is drug addiction

Many smokers think they are in the habit of smoking or that they somehow fell in love with cigarettes. Truth is, smoking is not a habit; it is drug addiction.

Whenever smokers say that they love smoking what they are really saying is they love to satisfy the mild withdrawal from nicotine (a withdrawal that they don’t know existed in the first place).

This is not a true pleasure; this is slavery.

War on Nicotine
Nicotine is an insidious and dangerous enemy. This is why I have declared war with him. I cordially invite you to join me in the battle against him. If you are keen to fight nicotine, get these 4 quick cheats here. This is the first step to becoming a happy non-smoker.

Smoking works back-to-front.

It is when smokers are not smoking that they suffer a slightly empty feeling.

When they light up, the feeling disappears and is replaced by stress-relief, relaxation, etc.

That is why it is easy to give cigarettes the credit for everything and the blame for nothing.

Stop falling for the lies of nicotine. It will NEVER be enough.

You will not invest in a property that will rapidly depreciate in value. And, I am sure you will also pass on the opportunity to gamble in a card game when you are bound to lose every single hand.

So my question is:

Why play a game when you have nothing to gain and everything to lose?

Why sacrifice your health, finances, mental clarity, ability to perform in bed for absolutely nothing? 

I’m not saying that smoking has fewer advantages compared to being a non-smoker… what I am saying is smoking has ZERO advantage. None, nothing, nil! 

Find out more in-depth about our enemy by reading: Can Nicotine Itself Be Good For Us?


  1. The Stimulant Effect of Nicotine

Finally, a reason to blame an external factor instead of ourselves. 

Nicotine is a stimulant. A small dose of stimulant will make us feel more alert and awake.

If you study the graph (in the first reason), you will notice whenever we smoke a cigarette our overall stress level is reduced.

However, our subconscious brain is incredibly complex yet stupid. We cannot differentiate the stress level from nicotine withdrawal and genuine stress.

All we know is we are feeling a little more alert and our stress has been significantly reduced (from 10 to 6 – see graph in reason #1) when we smoke

When this happens, our brains associate stress-relief with cigarettes and therefore we will have to rely more on cigarettes to ‘make’ our day… this is due to the stimulant effect of nicotine.

However, the truth is all smoking has done is exaggerated the problem by inviting additional stress.

In the graph, you will also notice the stress level reduces from 10 to 6 instead of 10 to 5… this is because as soon as stop smoking nicotine starts to leave our body almost right away.

In other words, a smoker is never free from the withdrawal and is never completely at ease.

A smoker is a slave to nicotine for as long as he doesn’t break the chain. 

The overall lack of fitness caused by cigarettes will also impact a smoker’s confidence and optimism which means additional stress is always knocking on a smoker’s door.

Key points to remember from reason #5:

Your subconscious brain only understands cause and immediate effect.

It concludes that lighting up a cigarette will make you feel better. This results in your subconscious brain triggering you to reach for the next cigarette endlessly (that is why smoking is never enough – reason #4).

To call smoking a ‘habit’ is an understatement. It is drug addiction. This is slavery.

You can assist your subconscious brain by understand the full effects of nicotine. The more you understand this enemy, the easier it is for you to annihilate him completely.


Conclusion

Lack of willpower is NOT the reason for quit-smoking failures; it is the lack of understanding of what we are dealing with. - Quit Smoking Quotes by Quit With Nerd
“Lack of willpower is NOT the reason for quit-smoking failures; it is the lack of understanding of what we are dealing with.”

If you find it hard to stop smoking then chances are one-or-more (or all) reasons are responsible.

What you should do now is to stop torturing yourself by going cold-turkey instead you should sharpen your ax by investing your time to understand nicotine.

Understand our enemy. 

Do this and you shall have the power.

Power for what? 

Power to be a true happy non-smoker who will not crave cigarettes ever again. Instead, you will be so disgusted by the thought of it.

Stop falling into the lies of our enemy and start seeing him for what he really is, just a bully who enjoys lying to us.

Nicotine has no strength on its own; its power derives entirely from our fear of it.

Thanks for reading.

I wish you nothing but the very best.

If you can resonate with the reasons here then cordially invite a friend or loved one who is having a hard time becoming smoke-free to read this post too.

I hope I’ve been of service.

Sincerely,
Jeremiah Say

Also Read:

Nicotine Withdrawal: The True Symptoms of Quitting Smoking (TRUTH)

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Best Way to Stop Smoking: Quitting Doesn’t Have to Be Difficult (TIPS)

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Debunking 4 Commons Myths of Smoking (FACTS VS MYTHS)

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Nicotine Benefits: Can Nicotine Itself Be Good For Us? (PROS & CONS)

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How to Quit Smoking: 6 Common Ways to Stop Smoking (METHODS)

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Cold Turkey: The Danger of Using Willpower to Quit Smoking (MY STORY)

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