by Jesse Card

Created on: January 13, 2010   Last Updated: January 15, 2010

It is hard seeing a loved one destroy their body with any addiction, including smoking.  Few people have not watched as a family member developed a deadly tumor, held a loved one’s hand as they recovered from surgery or struggled with the effects of an intensive chemotherapy regimen, and grieved as their father, grandmother, or friend passed away.  Smoking kills: it is impossible to deny any longer.

You can help your loved one quit, though.  The steps are quite simple:

1)  Expose the absurdity of your loved one’s addiction.  Tell them they are stupid.  Remind them that they are slowly killing themselves for a useless crutch.  Tell them that they only need to be strong.  Add up the cost of their addiction and show them all of the neat things they could purchase instead.

2)  Subject your loved one to a severe guilt-trip.  Hold your breath when they are near and refuse to kiss them.  Tell them that they are horrible for putting themselves in the position to not be there for their kids.  Blame them for the ragged shoes on their child’s feet.

3)  Badger your loved one.  Ask them every day to quit smoking.  Steal their cigarettes and hide their lighters.  Put up “No Smoking” signs in every room of the house.  Don’t let your loved one go a moment without knowing that you want them to quit and you want them to do it now.

4)  Forget all of the above steps.  The steps above are tactics many people try against their loved ones, but none of them work.

Few smokers are unaware of the severe effects their addiction has on their loved ones and on themselves.  Even fewer are the numbers of smokers that truly enjoy cigarettes and wish to remain a smoker.  Rather, most smokers are aware of the impact of their smoking, are extremely ashamed of that fact, and hate every butt they put between their lips.  Tactics that use fear, guilt, or any other form of stress only serve to feed the root of the addiction rather than convince the smoker that they can quit.

Quitting smoking is not about the desire, willpower, or endurance to quit.  These attributes may help along the way, but trying to force them on a person only increases that person’s stress, and stress is the main thing that keeps them going.  It’s not that cigarette smoke relieves stress, but most smokers associate stress relief with smoking because it is something

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