How to Stop Smoking!
Countless dollars, effort, energy, and an entire industry is devoted to helping people stop smoking. You know it’s significant or important when the products and helps to quit smoking are behind the counter at the Pharmacy. Clearly it is one of the most addictive harmful habits that most people who participate would like to stop. But how?
I have a four-word answer and I have just witnessed it work for literally thousands of people.
Go to Disney World
I recently got back from Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It was a great time with family, and we participated in runDisney. Five out of six of us ran a 10K while we were there, while the other family member took us to the race. After getting up at 2:00 am, leaving the hotel at 3:00 am and getting to the run staging area at 4:00am, we finished with the race by 7:30am. A short nap followed, then off to a park — for a second day.
One observation that occurred all three days while in the parks was that no one smoked, vaped or any type of tobacco use. No one smoked! Roughly a million people go to Disney World each week. Are you telling me there were no smokers out of that many people? NO. Certainly, there had to be smokers there. But for at least a day, these “smokers” chose not to smoke. How? I have two thoughts that I think are significant. Yes, there are designated smoking areas in the Disney Parks and grounds, but for the average nonsmoker, like me… I never saw these areas. I’m sure they were there, but most people I saw did not smoke. They were too busy!!
When Money and Love are involved, anything can happen.
Money
Disney is expensive. A three-day pass to Disney for a family costs over $1,200. And for many, that is the least expense. Transportation, whether it is a flight, gasoline, or some other means to get there, is costly. Food cost and motel expense are added to this. The average Disney vacation for a family of four is approaching $5,000. Tack on “Lighting Passes” to not have to wait for a favorite ride and a few Mickey ears and a three-day trip can eat up $5,000 in a heartbeat. So, if you or your spouse pays the $5,000 and you arrive at the park and the sign says “No Smoking” in the park. What happened? You don’t smoke… for a day, or two, or three. The sheer cost and effort of pulling off a trip like this is so prominent in your thinking that smoking takes a back seat. At least for a day, maybe two or three. If you can stop for a day, why not two, or three or a hundred or…. the rest of your life.
I am convinced that those items that are costly to us cause change. Whether it is a Disney trip, a costly outfit, or a new car! That investment causes change. It may be a little, like washing the new car every week. And the change may not last long, but anything that is costly brings change.
The time in my life when I was most “fit” was during the period I worked out at Organ Theory. For me, the element of cost was significant. Paying my monthly fee, which came out of my bank account at the first of the month, was the incentive I needed to be there, each week, on time and it made a difference. The same principle applies here. Changes we desire in our lives are fueled by and related to the costs involved.
The same “cost of Disney” approach could be the tuition to a smoke cessation class or therapy or coaching or whatever means to this end that is of cost to you will bring about change. Try it. Enroll in a class, purchase the products needed to stop. One of the most significant means using the “cost idea” is to set up a payment of significant means to entity or nonprofit that you despise if you do not meet your goal.
Say you’re not going to Disney anything soon (or never). Just set up a trigger, with accountability that if you do not meet this goal (stopping smoking in this case) you will send $5,000 to the political party you voted against in the last election. Ouch!
This is the same “Go to Disney World” principal but I think we would all agree, much more painful.
Love
While at Disney there were few people alone. There were some who walked around with their phones in “selfie mode” running into people. But most people were with loved ones, spouses, children, grandchildren. I saw people make tremendous sacrifices for those they loved. Men changed diapers in the rest room, fed their children from bottles that looked like breasts. Women pushed strollers full of children who had long gone to sleep.
And while Money and Love are intertwined, love is much deeper. When arriving at the park and the No Smoking standard is raised and your loved one is standing next to you…. What do you do? You don’t smoke.
This combination is powerful…. Love and Money. In our current world, these are two of the most important factors in our lives. Sure, time is important and there are other factors. But the combination of Love and Money help bring change.
When you love someone and want to please them, as in taking them to Disney, and you’ve paid a price to do so, you’re capable of much more than you ever thought you were… maybe even to the point of not smoking, ever again.
A Standard
There is a standard or atmosphere at Disney. No one smokes there. There are designated “smoking areas” (the website says so) but as I said, I did not see them. There were no cigarette butts on the ground or in planters or floating in the fountain. I’m sure this is a factor in the entire experience. The atmosphere in which you exist matters. Who you hang around with and what influences you is unique to your situation, and it will impact the your decisions?
I love freedom. People are free to smoke, and I don’t judge those who do. But after three days of observing no one smoking at one of the destination points in our country it made me think! What if…..
