Brief Note on Nicotine Addiction

Addiction is a way of life for me. I think that I was genetically disposed to be an alcoholic because the very first time I got drunk was like an oh wow, this is good, I want to do it again moment. I do not remember if cigarettes were the same way. I don’t think they were. I think I stubbornly and stupidly kept at smoking until I was physically addicted. Giving up alcohol was a minor thing compared to quitting smoking. It was as though with alcohol I had enough and it was time to quit. With nicotine I felt the same urge to quit, but the countervailing need for another cigarette was often overwhelming.

I failed at quitting smoking so many times. It got quite overwhelming. My AA sponsor, Nici, said to me that she stopped telling people she was quitting because she was so overwhelmed and defeated by the number of times she failed. I can relate.

As I write this, I am probably two years from my last cigarette and Nici should be one year. Again the two addictions are kind of funny in that I see alcohol and I really don’t crave it. If I do, the urge passes very rapidly. On the other hand if I smell smoke, especially if I am depressed or if a beautiful woman is smoking, I want that cigarette so badly it hurts.

I do ask the Goddess for help with that. She must be helping because in the past there would never have been the strength to resist these urges.

I am grateful today, to be cigarette free.

Good Morning Goddess Brigit, my name is Andy and I am an alcoholic and addict. I have been kept sober since Imbolc 2001 by Your grace and Your grace alone. Please, Goddess, be with me today, all day long and help me to stay sober all day long. Show me Your will for me and grant me the power to carry that out. Thy will, not mine be done. Inspire me to act and create in Your name. Be welcome in me and to me: body, heart, mind and soul.

Adjuva Briggita! Thank You! Blessed Be!