By Leo
Babauta
You might have uttered these defeated words before, “I tried to quit
but it’s too hard!” I did many times when I tried to quit
smoking. And when I tried giving up meat, cheese, sugar, and more. Quitting something can seem – and is – often incredibly hard, so much so that we don’t even want to put ourselves through the suffering.
Have you tried giving up alcohol? Marijuana? Biting your nails? Complaining? Cigarettes? Junk food?
I can confirm that it’s hard to quit an addiction, because there are several things that stand in our way:
- The physical addiction — This is difficult, but it often lasts only a few days. Fortunately, I can tell you that if you really put your mind to it, you can do anything for a few days at a time.
- The reliance on it as a coping mechanism — We’re so used to using the addiction as a crutch when we’re stressed or sad or things are difficult or we need to socialize. Fortunately, there are plenty of other healthier ways to cope with stress.
- You don’t believe you can do it. This is the worst one, because if you give in to this obstacle, the other two are not conquerable. Fortunately, this one is entirely under your control.
Because it’s so important, we’re going to focus on the last obstacle first.
