Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr Read Free Book Online Page A

whether it be health, shortage of money or being made to feel like a leper and a criminal.
    Because smokers associate stress relief with cigarettes, these stressful situations that motivate us to quit also make us want to smoke. As soon as we stop, we have more stress in our lives because we want a cigarette but can’t have one. Previously, we relied on the cigarette to relieve stress but now we must do without.
    After a few hours or days of torture we decide that we have picked the wrong time to quit. We must wait for a period when we have less stress, but as soon as we have less stress, our reasons for stopping vanish. Of course, that perfectly stress-free time never arrives. As we leave the protection of our parents, the natural process is to find a partner, build a family and a career and so on. We perceive these things to be stressful but they are really just part of growing up and becoming adults. We tend to confuse responsibility with stress. The truth is that the most stressful period of our lives is childhood and early adolescence. This is the period of our lives when everything is new and unknown, when our world is going through profound and constant change over which we have little or no control. Yet during this time of tremendous change and stress, we are perfectly able to handle it without cigarettes or any other false props or drugs.
    Smokers’ lives are significantly more stressful than non-smokers’. This is because tobacco does not relax you or relieve stress, as the brainwashing would have you believe. Just the reverse: smoking actually causes you to become more nervous, stressed and far less relaxed than non-smokers. You don’t need a degree in Biochemistry to know this, just look around—it’s plain to see.
    The whole business of smoking is like wandering into a giant maze. As we enter the maze our minds become misted up and clouded, and we spend the rest of our lives trying to find our way back out.
    I spent thirty-three years trying to escape from that maze. Like all smokers, I couldn’t understand it. However, due to acombination of unusual circumstances, none of which reflect any credit on me, I wanted to know why previously it had been so desperately difficult to stop and yet, when I did finally quit, it was not only easy but enjoyable.
    Since stopping smoking, my hobby and later my life’s work has been to try to solve the many conundrums associated with smoking. It is a complex and fascinating puzzle and, like the Rubik’s Cube, practically impossible to solve without assistance. However, like all complicated puzzles, if you have an instruction manual and know the solution, it is easy! I have the solution to stopping smoking easily and this book is your instruction manual. I will lead you out of the maze and ensure that you never wander into it again. All you have to do is
follow the instructions
. This means exactly what it says. If you don’t follow an instruction, then in effect you take a wrong turn in trying to escape from the maze. One wrong turn renders the rest of the instructions meaningless.
    Let me be very clear about this: any smoker can find it easy to stop smoking, but first we need to establish the facts. No, I do not mean statistics about lung cancer, heart disease and the many other conditions caused by smoking. You are already aware of this information and if it was going to stop you from smoking, it would have done so years ago. I mean, why do we find it difficult to stop? In order to answer this question we first need to know why we smoke.

C HAPTER 5
W HY W E S MOKE
    M ost of us started smoking for largely stupid reasons, usually involving a degree of peer pressure, but once we become aware that we’re hooked, why do we carry on smoking?
    No smoker truly understands why he or she smokes. If they did, they would stop immediately and effortlessly. I have asked this question of thousands of smokers during my consultations. The correct