Personal Development And Quitting Smoking

Warning: Smoking is bad for your health. This sinister-sounding caveat adorns practically every pack and box of cigarettes that’s sold in bold letters that is quite difficult to miss. Sometimes it makes me wonder why, if indeed it is true that smoking is unhealthy, then why are cigarettes even allowed to be sold! Does smoking really kill? I guess the answer to that often debated question will really depend on one’s bias. If you are a health buff and take to heart the articles that abound regarding the ill effects of smoking (complete with all the gory pictures of blackened lungs and stories of excruciating pain that patients with lung cancer or emphysema suffer from supposedly because of smoking), and then I’d wager you’d answer this question in the affirmative. However, if you are a regular smoker and are either in denial or know, for example, of people who have lived to a ripe old age despite being a three-pack-a-day habitué, then your opinion may likely be either contrary or, at least, bordering on the skeptical. Aside from these blatant warnings in the packaging of cigarettes (and cigars) as well as those morbid anti-smoking articles and reading materials, there are other efforts to minimize potential first-time users and curb the habits of those who have made lighting up part of their lifestyle. Smoking is now prohibited in several public places and transport mediums, and advertising is restricted, thanks to the successful passing of the Public Health Cigarette Act in the 1970s. By and large, however, all these efforts have failed to make any significant headway in as far as reducing the number of new smokers and convincing current smokers to stop. Truth to be told, these scare tactics and prohibitions probably even helped make smoking popular because of the controversy surrounding it. Given that these efforts have failed in their objectives, therefore, what then is a more effective way to stop first-time smoking or convince current smokers to quit? How I Quit SmokingnnBefore I quit, I was a three-pack-a-day smoker for more than twenty years. I justified this habit by telling myself that it helped ease the pressure of competition, which characterized the lifestyle I led. For me, my personal development depended on my being always better than my rivals, and smoking seemed to give me that edge. I thought that smoking was my ticket to becoming a winner. Boy, was I wrong! I realized that smoking became my security blanket, a psychological handlebar on the cycle of my life. Aside from it potentially being harmful to me physically and expose others to potential risk from second hand smoke, cigarettes developed in me an addiction that imposed itself upon my very being. In that sense, I became a loser, and not the winner I thought I was. I decided to quit right then and there. The first step I took towards quitting what I now consider to be a bad habit, was to identify the reason or reasons I smoked. I knew that pressure encouraged me to light up, but I went deeper by analyzing what caused the pressure and discovered that it was the need or desire for me to win at all costs. I realized further that I don’t need to always win to be somebody but I also don’t want to lose all the way. Winners in life know this really well so I might as well stop smoking than lose the battle of success all throughout. Having discovered the cause of my pressure, it was then a simple matter of addressing it so that I did not need to bring those infernal messengers of bad breath into my mouth and strike a match to light it. I truly achieved my personal development because I did not need to rely on anything except myself. I’ve been smoke-free for more than 10 years now, and I feel great and completely fulfilled!n