Failures and relapses
Lapses and relapses during the process of quitting

• The thought of quitting scares you?
• No willpower to stop smoking
• It’s my choice to continue smoking
• I’ve got it under control
• I can’t stop
• They’ll find a vaccine against smoking
• Everyone I know smokes
• Smoking is social
• It didn’t kill my grandfather
• It’s not as bad as they say
• There are worse things than smoking
• If it was so bad, the government would make it illegal
• I smoke all-natural cigarettes
• Everyone smokes
• You have to die somehow...
• Tips to stop smoking
• Smoking and nicotine
• Quit without gaining weight
• Quit and manage your stress
• Quitting and physical activity
• Quitting and health benefits
• Quitting and withdrawal symptoms
• Failures and relapses
• The steps of the stop-smoking method

Explanation of the difference between a lapse and a relapse when quitting cigarettes

Below is a short explanation that should encourage you to achieve your goal, whatever happens.

What happens when you lapse?

A lapse is when you take two or three puffs of a cigarette but are able to stop yourself, examine and understand why it happened and continue your efforts to quit the tyranny of cigarettes.

It’s rather like learning to use a computer: you might enter the wrong command occasionally, but you start over, see why you did that, and move on at your own pace.  You learn from your mistakes and ultimately reach your goal.

What happens when you relapse?

A relapse is when you do the same thing, but are unable to stop yourself because you make a negative judgment of your abilities or culpability.  As a result, you abandon your efforts to quit smoking.

Let’s say you’re learning a new sport: you make a mistake and you’re physically shaken, or your morale is shaken (e.g. pride, self-confidence).  So you forget about why you wanted to learn the sport in the first place, and give up trying to reach your goal (i.e. you abandon everything you’ve learned and ignore the experience you’ve acquired).

Does it mean you’ll never try to use a computer again?  Of course not!

If this happens to you, tell yourself that you’re still a winner:  you managed to get that far!  You’ve learned something new.  What you now need to learn is why you relapsed and how you can survive this kind of situation next time you decide to quit smoking.

Next time, you’ll have more chance of succeeding!