Slave to nicotine? Tired of living from fix to fix? Freedom is vastly more do-able and infinitely more wonderful than your wanting for that next mandatory nicotine feeding will suggest.

What sense does it make to fear or delay a temporary journey of re-adjustment which leads to entire days where you never once think about wanting to smoke, dip, chew or vape nicotine? Why postpone the rich and deep sense of calm and quiet that arrives once your addiction's never-ending chatter goes silent?

If needing to fear, fear nicotine. A prospective study published on May 15, 2015 involved more than 34,000 participants. It found that "regular nicotine use predicted onset of anxiety, depressive, and bipolar disorders."

The problem is that you've yet to discover the key to success.

Whether ready to quit yet or not, World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is a golden opportunity to master successful quitting's only rule. It's called the Law of Addiction and it states:

"Administration of a drug to an addict will cause re-establishment of chemical dependence upon the addictive substance."

Lapse/relapse studies suggest that the distinction isn't necessary, that as with the recovering alcoholic trying to get away with taking a sip, that one equals all, that lapse equals relapse, that one puff will always be too many, while thousands never enough.

In fact, brain scans show that just one puff of nicotine when quitting and up to half of dopamine pathway receptors become occupied by nicotine.

While most who attempt cheating when quitting walk away feeling like they've gotten away with it, the nicotine addict cannot cheat the design of brain circuitry whose job is to make activating events nearly impossible to forget in the short term, the time needed for recovery.

And it isn't long before they find their brain wanting, plotting to obtain or even begging for more.

Nicotine addiction is real drug addiction in every sense, enslaving the same brain dopamine pathways as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines. In fact, the wanting they feel for their drug flows from same brain circuitry as the nicotine addict's.

Treating quitting as though ending some nasty little habit is a recipe for relapse. Appreciate that nicotine compromised dopamine pathways see nicotine the same as they see food (wanting for food, wanting for nicotine) -- that there's no such thing as just one or just once -- and nothing can stand in your way.

Still, while one equals all, take heart in the fact that it's impossible to fail so long as all nicotine remains on the outside. Yes, there was always only one rule, no nicotine today, to never take another puff, dip, chew or vape!

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