‘The Ramblings of an Ex-Smoker’

Dear Smokers and Nicotine Addicts,

This is my story, I hope it may be of assistance to you in regard to the mission that you have reluctantly accepted.. Smoking that first cigarette was one of, if not the most stupidest things that I’ve ever done in my entire life, do you believe that too?

I don’t need to tell you the reasons why you need to quit smoking right now. You already know the reasons why you need to quit smoking right now. You’re the one who searched it up and found yourself here after all, didn’t you? I don’t need to convince you or give you a list of reasons… who are you trying to fool? You may be fooling yourself, but you’re definitely not fooling me….as if you don’t know why you should quit? Don’t fool yourself any longer, because you need to quit smoking. You need to do it now.

Take back control of yourself and your health. It is a useless addiction, more than just a bad habit. You’ve become a slave to the cigarette and if you can’t admit it then that is why nicotine is controlling your mind!

You can quit smoking cigarettes at any moment. You can  kick the habit no matter how any times you have tried and failed. I failed so many times, more times than I care to remember. I told myself that I’d quit in my early 20s and then wow here comes 40!

Damn it, i just kept on kicking the can further down along the road, even though I could see the negative effects of cigarette smoking all around me! ‘Just one more’ for my nicotine soaked mind… that nagging little voice inside of me was all lies lies lies!

My pop spent his final days gasping for breath, lungs and airways unfilled with COPD. And then what about aunt Lizzy? She died with cancer that had spread from her lungs to her bones, her last days lived out in palliative care, emaciated, incapacitated and stoned. Then add to that more stories of heart attacks and strokes for my neighbors and friends, there are more avoidable tragic stories around here, more than its worth remembering. And although they all eventually stopped smoking, in reality it was the cigarettes that had quit them in the end! The choice was taken out of their hands either by physical incapability, emaciation, or death caused by the summoning of the cigarettes.

I tell you tobacco is a murderous killer, breaking up families and friends, and all too soon bringing lives to an end. Better for you to quit smoking now while you still can, otherwise cigarettes will definitely put you to an end. Quit smoking whatever you do, quit it right now my friend before it quits you.

Cigarettes don’t provide relief, rather they are the entire cause of your stress! When you don’t get your fix you need another one just to calm the anxiety formed from having gone without! Life’s much easier when you can tackle it with a clear head. If you don’t get a smoke on time you’ll spin out of control, yelling at strangers, acquaintances, your family and friends. You’re stuck in a negative self reinforcing loop and its only because you smoke that you in fact need them. But hey, they don’t need you… and they’ll soon quit you in the end. Now that’s an undeniable truth, my friend!

Nicotine is nothing but a parasite, an antidote to itself, but in reality you are the only one responsible for the stress of the addiction itself! Its neither paradoxical nor ironic and it doesn’t make sense. You are not stupid but every ‘one’ cigarette to your lips and lungs is!

Hey, I need you to snap out of it…puffing away like an old steam train.

The good news is you can quit cigarettes at any time if you will.

Yes, you can! Just quit them like that, like I did in the end.

Never stop trying to quit, you will only need to succeed at it just once, despite how many times you may have tried, or not tried and but still failed! And if you relapse, just try to try again.

That’s right, you could have failed more than 1000 times, but you only need to succeed at this quitting thing, just once in the end! I myself have 20+ years of quitting experience, of quitting and failing and then doing it all over again, but i finally did it so I guess you could call me the wise idiot, my friend!

Finally i was so fed up of being fed up with my crappy manufactured excuses. Living in denial, lying to myself every consecutive day that those cigarettes touched my lips, believing against my own better judgement that I actually liked the damage associated with that nicotine hit! What a ludicrous thought that I enjoyed to abuse myself and pay for the privilege, or the idea that I could quit whenever i wanted, but I just didn’t want to right now!

I couldn’t even take a relaxing trip down to the beach without first pulling out a tar filled cigarette and inhaling on arrival, deep into my chest before my feet touched the sand. Any excuse was a good excuse to have a cigarette in hand. If i needed to clean up the house, I would have a smoke first…and now that I’ve cleaned the house, it’s time for another cigarette. Hmm, I need to take a crap, you guessed it…maybe I should have a smoke first, and yeah now that I’ve done a crap, where’s the cigarettes?

Etc, etc and so on and so forth…on and on into infinity it seemed to go.

Sound familiar? An addict knows the feeling. The truth is anytime and all the time had become a good time for a cigarette. From the first thing that touched my lips in the morning to the last thing at night, the nicotine addiction takes control of you and holds tight.

But who is in control here, who is responsible? That’s a good question for you!

I told lies to myself over and over again. Lies such as ‘Whaddya mean, I like the taste of cigarettes’, it’s part of who I am! I AM a cigarette with a coffee in the early morning, I AM a smoke with a bottle of beer in the evening after work, I AM smoke held in pursed lips cruising down the highway at 95 with my windows down and metal blasting from the stereo!

That was until i finally woke up to myself and decided I AM not that anymore, that is who I WAS!

Snap out of it, I am in control here. I am Responsible for this!

Why keep doing this to yourself?

Think, I am in control here, I am responsible for this!

Another day of this is one more day too many! And what sort of example am i setting for my kids? And whether or not you have kids, just ask yourself what sort of example are you setting for yourself.

If you cant be your own hero then who the f**k else?

Don’t say you can’t do it, stop making excuses and just set a date!

And think, I am in control. I am responsible.

C’mon man, you got this!

Before you know it, sooner than you think you definitely wont like the taste of cigarettes.

So get started planning and be prepared for the fight, a fight with yourself to be free of the cigarettes.

Don’t expect anyone to save you if you’re not prepared to save yourself.

You’re fighting for you, so stop waiting around and just f**king save yourself!

That’s not to say you have to do it all alone, but just like a baby only you can take your own first steps.

I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.

I know that you know, the reasons why you need to quit smoking right now.

Its up to you. Your life depends on it, because lets face it…your life really does depend on it!

You already know you are going to have to quit one day, so you may as well make that decision today. You will be amazed at what you can achieve if you put your mind to it, so go on and surprise your self!

Be the hero of your own story. Yes you can…You must quit smoking before it quits you.

Take a deep breath and repeat after me,

Say ‘I am in control, and I am responsible’ for this.

Just say it over and over again.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Average Joe Blogs