While a lot of people refer to smoking as a habit, I usually make a point of referring to it as an addiction. Not "my old smoking habit" but "my former nicotine addiction." There's a deliberate reason for my choice of words, just as there's a reason (deliberate or otherwise) for many people choosing to call it a habit: it's all a matter of degree.
See, when I was a smoker, I always called it a habit. By making it nothing more than a habit in my mind, that sort of put it on par with other habitual behaviors. You know: biting your nails, never missing an episode of your favorite TV show, following the same path around the supermarket each time you shop, overusing a certain pet word or phrase, smoking 25-40 cigarettes a day...
The one that can eventually kill you.
By lumping my addiction in with those other, comparatively harmless habitual behaviors, I was able to downplay -- at least in my own mind -- the severity of what I was doing to myself, and what I was up against.
After a few half-assed, futile attempts to quit my "habit," I recognized it for what it was: an addiction to nicotine. And strangely enough, that may have been what it took to start wrapping my brain around what I might need to do to quit. Because as much as we minimize and downplay addictions as mere habits, we also set ourselves up for failure by framing it that way. After all, it's much easier (not easy, mind you, but easier) to break a habit than it is to overcome addiction.
All of this is not meant to downplay the seriousness of those so-called "soft" addictions, those with fewer overt physical symptoms but with as much real-world impact. People with habitual behaviors that begin to take over or interfere with a person's day-to-day life can be extremely serious and may require intervention by a third party, a support group, or even trained professionals (including therapy and medication). If your gambling, gaming, internet time or shopping feels out of control, it probably is, at least to some degree. If your "habit" is actually a compulsive behavior of a different sort (disordered eating habits, unhealthy relationships, hoarding, cutting, etc.), please seek professional help! GUS is a heck of a support group and we do have a certain collective wisdom here, but treatment of these serious issues is best left to the professionals!
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(Thanks bsm for catching the updates!)