The Power of Detachment

Boo

Quit Date: March 9, 2016

Posted December 8, 2019 

One of the greatest gifts the process of quitting gave me was the opportunity to practice detachment on a daily basis.  I started thinking about this earlier today after hearing Jocko Willink talk about detachment on a podcast.  In fact, the moment I figured out how to separate myself from whatever emotions and thoughts I was having in the moment was the turning point in my quit.  It was a struggle before I figured it out.  After I figured it out, it has been nothing but smooth sailing.

The cravings didn't magically go away when I turned the corner.  The odd thought about "the good ol' days when I was a smoker" still popped up from time-to-time.  The basic tenets of addiction were still there, I just changed how I reacted.  Instead of surrendering to the chaos and allowing the emotional upheaval to dictate my actions, I just took a step back and observed what was really going on.  Identified my thoughts as nothing more than a temporary feeling born of decades of addiction.

Detaching yourself from the self-defeating thoughts and emotions of addiction allows you to observe what's really going on and make wise decisions.

The cigarette is an inanimate object.

You are not a smoker.  You are someone who used to smoke.

Your thoughts have as much or as little power as you give them.

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