Paul said it best, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Romans 7:15 NIV When we tell ourselves, “This is my last drink (or cigarette, bag of chips, time looking at porn, etc.),” we mean it. We intend to leave that out of our lives from that moment on. It's a firm decision. Then we go for a short time without it, and life gets too sad, dull, lonely, stressful, etc., and we go ahead and use or do whatever it is we said we were quitting. We often tell ourselves, “We needed it," or some other excuse or way to minimize the truth. We may feel a little guilty for breaking our promise to ourselves to quit, but the behavior gave us some relief or excitement for the moment, so we’re not 100 percent sorry that we went there. We tell ourselves that we’ll start over again. Such is the cycle of addictions and compulsive behaviors.