I have been an on off smoker for a long time. Started somewhere in the second year of medical college and have been having a go at quitting ever since then. The thing about this addiction is that you can never ever be sure that you are done with it. Guarding against that ONE moment of weakness that will get you started again involves eternal vigilance. Not only have I struggled endlessly myself, I have also seen many friends suffering too. Here is my personal experience.
The First Step is Not to Start
How I rue the day I started. The first time I had a cigarette. It feels good, makes you feel important and especially if you are a teenager who has just moved to the other end of the country to a metropolis where you have no friends, it gives you social acceptance as well.
But it's a road to perdition that you would do well not to start on.
So If you are not caught on yet, then DON'T start. If you are an occasional smoker and not hooked on to three packs a day, it's easier to give up. Just make sure that you don't encounter one of these "occasions" ever again. And I say this because if its easy to quit from being an occasional smoker, its even easier to become habituated from this point on.
How to Know That You are Hooked
The first step to solving a problem, is to realize that one exists.
For the first couple of years, I told myself that I could quit anytime I wanted. That is, until I tried to quit for the first time. Man alive, it was hard. Sitting in my room trying to resist the urge to go out and buy another one was perhaps the most difficult thing I had ever done. I lasted six months that time. Until I hit a bad time, and bingo, I was hooked again.
In actual fact, there is no line that you have to cross. There is no neon sign that you pass on this long and slippery road which proclaims the fact of your addiction to the world. It is a slow realization which comes with time.
When assessing an alcoholic in clinic, doctors use the CAGE questionnaire. If you answer yes to any one of the questions, it is an indicator that you might have a problem. (It is only a screening test and not a diagnostic test)
- C stands for Cutting Down: Have you ever thought about cutting down your drinking?
- A stands for annoyance: Have other people ever been annoyed by your drinking habits?
- G stands for Guilt: Have you ever felt guilty about your drinking?
- E stands for Eye Opener: Have you ever felt the need for a drink the first thing in the morning?
If anything, the cut off for addiction to smoking should be lower than that for drinking.Tobacco does a lot more damage to society and the individual than alcohol. Even then, I think this test is a good one if you want to determine if you are addicted to smoking tobacco.
And the gold standard test is to stop!!! And see how things go. If you are successful and never smoke again, congratulations!!!! But if you are like the rest of us, there are high chances that you will relapse into old habits again. And figures and health statistics prove this too. Only 2.5 percent of smokers manage to quit every year. And those who do manage to quit, usually have tried 2-3 times unsuccessfully before they finally kick the habit.
It's Better to Burn Out, Than to Fade Away
That's how I rationalized it to myself in the early days. Life is short and youth even shorter. There is a lot to do and enjoy. Its what they call, being delusional.
So If you are one of those Kurt Kobain fans who believe in the statement quoted above or one of the new age rationalist followers of Ayn Rand who died believing that all anti smoking literature was communist propaganda and likened the lit cigarette in a man's hand to the fire of the intellect in his brain, you are wasting your time here. This website
might provide more entertainment/information.
If however you are here in search of reasons to quit, I can help you.
Why Quit?
Well, if health isn't motivation enough for you, and I will go into more detail on this in a bit, consider that biggest motivator of men and nations....Money!!!
Buying a pack might not be enough to break your financial back. But buying a pack day in and day out for a lifetime will set you back quite a lot. Let's indulge ourselves and see by how much.
