After 15 years of calling myself a ‘social smoker’, I realised that I was no longer puffing away with friends over a glass of wine to be ‘sociable’ – but I was smoking every single day.
I could no longer tell myself that I had control over it, or that “I could quit whenever I wanted”. The truth was, when I tried to stop, I only ever managed a couple of weeks and then I’d find myself having “a cheeky drag” or “just one puff” which always resulted in smoking full time again.
I’d just turned 29 and I didn’t want to be a smoker in my 30s. Then a colleague of mine had told me about the Allen Carr’s Easy Way To Quit Smoking book – written by an accountant from the UK in the 90s – which has helped millions of people around the world give up cigarettes, including Ashton Kutcher, Ellen DeGeneres and Anthony Hopkins – as well as my colleague!
While I had my doubts about the book working, I felt there was no harm in buying it and reading it.
But it took me six months to actually pick it up, and then I kept stopping and starting again.
“You have to read it in one go,” my colleague told me. “Trust me, it’s worth it.”
I was so determined to quit, that I ended up reading it over two days!
And it wasn’t full of scary statistics– I already knew smoking was expensive and caused health problems – but Allen discusses how smoking is purely psychological.
Once I finished the book, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought about cigarettes differently now and the cravings vanished completely.
I simply didn’t want to do it, it was almost like it was magic!
My boyfriend Dinny, 32, wasn’t a huge smoker, but he’d have a couple a day at work.
“I’ve had a stressful day,” he’d say. “I had a few smoke breaks. I wish I could be like you and not smoke.”
I gave him the book, but he’s not a big reader, so I decided to look for an alternative solution.
That’s when I discovered there were Allen Carr seminars held around Sydney every few weeks.
For $580, an Allen Carr representative talks through Allen’s methods for five hours with a hypnotherapy session for half an hour at the end.
In fact, there’s a 90% success rate – so if you don’t quit in the first three months you get your money back!
After Dinny did the course we went out to celebrate with our friends, and not once did either of us feel the need to smoke – and it’s stayed that way for both of us.
It’s been six months now since I had my last cigarette and I’m so happy to no longer be caught in the nicotine trap, and it’s all thanks to Allen Carr.
For more information on Allen Carr seminars held in Sydney go to http://allencarr.com.au/book-now/
Words by Jennifer Fletcher
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