Yes! You Can Stop Smoking (eBook)

Chapter Five

What Does it Mean To Be In Recovery?

There are five stages to nicotine addiction. There are also five stages of recovery from the illness. Most new nonsmokers return to smoking because they are unaware of the pitfalls that lie ahead of them.

If you understand what is going to happen to you when you stop, if you know that what is happening is normal under the circumstances, and if you possess the skills to deal with those issues, you will not only stop smoking, you will stay stopped.

With this knowledge, you will be able to develop new healthy coping skills to deal with life on life’s terms without the use of a drug.

Most smokers have smoked for years and expect to be able to stop with little or no pain. We all want the easy quick-fix;unfortunately, there are symptoms of recovery that are not always pleasant. Moreover, you cannot smoke for years and expect the addiction to go away overnight. Eighty to ninety percent of smokers who try to stop without accurate information relapse within one year.

Another concern in early recovery is not to exchange one addiction for another. For example, some of the obsessive-compulsive behavior’s ex-smokers tend to pick up are: overeating, caffeine abuse, gambling, alcohol abuse, marijuana use, spending too much money, taking tranquilizers, oversleeping, obsessive working and excessive exercising.

Cigarettes are an integral part of a smoker’s life. When the addict stops smoking, it is like losing an old friend. When you take something, this important out of your life, there is an emptiness or void that needs to be filled. For the addict, life revolves around smoking. Filling that void left by this loss with new healthy coping skills is what is meant by being In-Recovery.

There are five stages of recovery from Nicotine Addiction.” These stages represent the transition from smoker to nonsmoker. Having this knowledge about what the future holds will greatly reduce the difficulty of your recovery and will help you prevent relapse. When asked what helped the most with their recovery, people said,the five stages of recovery. Feel free to copy these stages and put them on your refrigerator door.

The Five Stages of Recovery

Fear Stage: Anticipation of loss of cigarettes; feels threatened and insecure; stops smoking and has fear due to a chemical imbalance; fear of failure; fear of success; fear of withdrawal; fear of emotions; fear from anxiety or panic attacks; fear of going crazy or coming apart; fear from old unresolved issues surfacing.

The fear stage keeps many smokers hooked until death. The closer the smoker gets to doing something about his or her smoking, the more intense the fear becomes. To help deal with this stage, first feel the emotions, and then share them with a supportive friend. Accepting your feelings and being honest about them will greatly reduce their hold on you.

Adjustment Stage: Has stopped the intake of nicotine and starts withdrawal; feels angry, afraid, irritated, confused, tired; craves food and wants a cigarette; has to learn to talk, work, drive, eat, play, relax, communicate and deal with emotions without smoking; the lungs start to clean themselves out; spits up mucus; stamina improves; starts to feel better; will experience mood swings; withdrawal lasts about two weeks; after with-drawal, starts to feel better and could become complacent about recovery; feels like being on a pink cloud; could stop the recovery process; is in danger of relapse; thinks, “I can smoke just one”; experiences post-withdrawal symptoms at 30 days, 60 days and 90 days after cessation of nicotine; has symptoms of anger, confusion and craves a cigarette; post-withdrawal lasts from one to five days; becomes more assertive with others; self-esteem improves; feels gratitude for recovery.

This stage is more than just withdrawal – you will be emotionally vulnerable. After smoking for years, and now not having that shield, you will feel emotions like you never have before. There are some relapse causes in this stage that you need to be aware of: 1. Lack of skills to deal with withdrawal. 2. Complacency; being on a pink cloud and thinking you have it licked. Addicts are their own worst enemies. If things are going well, a false sense of security sets in, and the addict stops the recovery process and eventually smokes. If what you are doing works, keep doing it. 3. Inability to deal with feelings, especially fear and anger.

To help progress through this stage, seek out supportive friends. You may want to participate in a support group whose focus is on recovery from nicotine addiction. Get telephone numbers and call your supports regularly. You might also want to keep a daily journal. Write down some of the feelings you have during the day. What was the emotion, what was its source and how did you deal with it? Writing is excellent therapy that helps put out-of-control feelings in their proper perspective.

Anger Stage: Feels undefined anger; focuses on others’ faults and becomes self-righteous; is irritable and hard to get along with; isolates and sleeps excessively; might become depressed; is unaware of underlying emotional issues; is in danger of relapse.

In this stage, anger is the feeling on the surface. Old unresolved issues that were suppressed for years by smoking are beginning to come to the surface. The anger is part of a defense mechanism that keeps the person from having to face the pain from those issues. The best way to deal with this stage is to talk with supportive friends. Write down the names of the people who is the source of your anger and how you feel about those people today.

You might think that the emotional pain is not worth the effort, and that you do not want to deal with these issues. In reality, the issues have always been there. You have been carrying them around for years, manifested as inappropriate behavior and have had a negative effect on your life. They come out as relationship problems, work problems, low self-esteem, depression, and physical symptoms of headaches, backaches and stomachaches.

You can go six months without a cigarette, then for no apparent reason start smoking. If you look close, you are probably experiencing the Anger Stage. If you have had treatment in the past for underlying emotional issues, the severity of this stage will be diminished.

Growth Stage: Feels the pain from the anger stage and chooses not to smoke; is willing to deal with past emotional issues; reaches out to others for help; has intense emotional ups and downs but is determined to take responsibility for self; accepts self as is; feels a sense of value; self-esteem soars; develops an intense gratitude for recovery; starts to feel mature; thinking becomes clear, focused and stable; sets new realistic goals; new doors of opportunity open.

The Growth Stage and the Anger Stage go together. You’re at a turning point in your recovery. You are feeling emotional pain, and you choose not to smoke. This is not an easy stage, but it is worth the effort. Those old issues have been haunting you far too long; now it’s time to put them in their proper place. It is suggested that, if necessary, you seek help from a qualified therapist who specializes in treating your issues. You will find that your deepest pain can be your best source of emotional growth.

Maintenance Stage: Smoking is no longer an issue; new healthy coping skills have replaced the need for nicotine; you participate in some form of support system; short and long-term goals are materializing; most friends are non-smokers; self-esteem soars and you have a sense of spirituality beyond description; you help others.

This is the last stage, but your growth does not stop here. To be “in recovery” means that you continually improve the quality of your life. You will find that living nicotine-free is an adventure that is more exciting than any drug could ever be. Nicotine gives the user a false sense of security. Recovery allows you to be fully aware of yourself with all your trials, tribulations and joys. Without drugs, the path to personal growth is unlimited. You now have the opportunity to go as far as you choose.

The Five Stages of Recovery are meant to be a guide. If you cannot identify with everything, that’s OK. The way to recovery is to acknowledge and accept the problem, then start living in the solutions. The solutions will involve change. If you go back to doing things as before without making some major changes for the better, you will smoke again. Remain open, teachable and willing to change, and you will be successful at becoming a nonsmoker. Next are the approximate time frames for The Five Stages of Recovery.

Time Frames for Recovery

It is difficult to put time periods on the stages. Everyone is different, and what might take one person two weeks may take someone else a year or even longer. You can be in more than one stage at a time. Listed below are some general time frames for the stages of recovery:

Fear Stage: When you first decide to stop, you will feel anticipation and anxiety. After stopping the intake of nicotine, the fear usually disappears in about two weeks. By then you have gained some faith and self-confidence that you can do this. There may be times when you return to the fear stage, but if you make your recovery number one priority, the fear will pass.

Adjustment Stage: This stage takes the longest. You are changing a way of life, and that takes time. Not only will you be changing, but the people around you will have to adjust to the new you. It takes months, for many people more than a...