Rethink The Smoking Habit

By Daniel Taverne

On September 16th, one year will have passed since I finally succeeded at quitting smoking. Since this was my seventh attempt, it is an anniversary I am particularly proud of. Although this hurdle was very difficult to overcome, it was made a bit easier when I viewed it in practicle terms. Since I was successful this time I feel obligated to share my thinking with others. Maybe, hearing what I have to say will prompt others to quit, and learn to enjoy life without smoking.

Why did I begin the habit in the first place? It was ultamitely my choice to begin smoking. I chose to emulate this aspect of my father’s life because he smoked, and he was like a God to me. He was so strong, and appeared so healthy despite his smoking. I felt that if he could smoke and be healthy, then probably everything I’ve heard about the habit didn’t apply to us because we were tough guys, we were invincible. In fact, cigarette smoking was a badge of toughness that I displayed from my teenaged years, into my adulthood in the military. I soon found I wasn’t alone in my thinking and participated in many ‘breaks’ where I found camaraderie amongst other smokers.

I had a feeling back then that I might someday be sorry for my foolish thinking, but I was a ‘rebel’ , and wasn’t going to be scared into quitting . In fact, I would actually scoff at those who tried to warn me about the dangers of the habit, and I would do foolish things. I would look at them with a mischevious smile and pop two cigarettes into my mouth and light them both at once. Or, I would chain smoke on purpose just to illustrate the strength of my conviction to smoke. In a nut-shell, I refused to consider my mortality.

Another reason I smoked was I mistakenly used cigarettes as an emotional crutch. They seemed to be a necessary tool in my coping with everyday stressors. If I had an argument, and I was angry,, I smoked allot. If I was involved in a car accident, I smoked even more. I smoked more when I felt nervous. I’d frequently go outside and smoke prior to seeing the doctor or dentist. When I was lonely, I would smoke. As a matter of fact, When I was in the hospital, and barely able to walk, I would painfully, and stubbornly hobble from the fourth floor all the way to the smoke shelter outside which was located about a block away. Shamefully, to feed my nicoteen hunger, I’d make this trip at least twelve times everyday.

I didn’t only need negative events to prompt me to light up, As a matter of fact I had an abundance of good reasons to do so. I had to have a cigarette after any meal, before bed, whenever I had a cup of coffee, the smoke-break at work, everytime I got in the car, and even when I utilized the bathroom. Now that I think about it. I must say I didn’t really need a reason to smoke at all. I simply lit up whenever I had the chance. This just goes to show how powerful this addiction is.

My reasons for quitting are many. I began thinking about how I took my health for granted all these years. How could I expect to remain healthy and vital if I was slowly poisoning myself. I began to see that my smoking was akin to self-mutilation. The only difference was the fact that one couldn’t readily see the damage I was causing myself, making it easy for me to pretend that I wasn’t hurting myself at all.

Another reason I quit smoking was that it got to the point that every night when I tried to go to sleep, the wheezing my lungs were doing kept me awake. Then, in the mornings I coughed and hacked as if I were trying to regurgitate a piano. Although this was painful, and I would cough to the point of loosing my voice, I was more concerned with having my wife seeing me cough like that than I was that I was killing myself! To that end, I was imbarrassed that I didn’t seem to be the tough guy I always thoutht I was.

Quitting also became a question of economics. Aside from making someone else rich by spending between $150.00 and $180.00 per month to kill myself, I was having to subtract that money from my families budget. This was very difficult during a time when I was ill, and my income ceased to exist. During this time my family needed every dollar we had just to keep essentials, but selfishly, I was quite literally burning many of those much needed dollars just to feed my habit.

Am I glad that I quit? You better believe it! Since I quit, I have been surprised at how much better my sense of smell is. In addition, I can taste things much more strongly. I only thought I liked Chinese food before, and now that I’ve quit, it tastes much brighter; much better. Also, when I went to an all-night diner that I regularly frequented, I was in for a shock. I couldn’t drink their coffee anymore because now that my taste buds were working, I discovered that it tasted really nasty!

Even more noteworthy, I am breathing much easier. In fact, this is a benefit I felt only a few weeks after I quit. In addition, since I quit, I have not yet woke up coughing and hacking. I am not saying that I am back to my pre-smoking health, but I am much better off now than I would be if I had continued to smoke throughout the past year.

Now that I have discontinued my smoking habit, I find that the smell of cigarette smoke revolts me. I find that I no longer wish to breath even second hand smoke. I try to convince people that quitting would be the best thing they could ever do for themselves, but they seem to think as I had in the past. I point out to them the things I have been able to buy myself since I no longer have that expense: a new computer, scanner, CD player and more. I enjoy spending my money on things other than cigarettes, and I now scoff at the cigarette companies rather than concerned friends.

To sum this all up, smoking is a hapit that is akin to self mutilation, and is something that every smoker should rethink. It may be a habit that seems all too powerful to overcome, and they may think they actually like to do it, but. I submit that on some level, every smoker wishes he/she could quit. I also submit that smokers are ultamitely incharge of all their limbs, hands, and fingers. They can quit if they want, they can simply cease to light up againI speak from experience; that’s how I quit.