Quit Smoking!
I believe every smoker could quit smoking if they wanted to; and I think they all should. From my own experienced, benefits of being able to kick butts’ way surpasses the need to smoke. Although, puffing on a cigarette, may take away sadness or some other unwanted emotions. But study shows that after quitting, a person’s lifespan could gain ten or more years and several
other tremendous amount of health benefits. But quitting is not easy.
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I smoked for about twenty-two years. During those years, I have tried to quit numerous times. Most of the time, I would get irritated, anxious, and upset over the trivial things. “I hated it when you are not smoking, because you are always cranky,” my wife would remind me. It was discouraging. Overall, I was feeling uncomfortable. I could still remember the strong urge if hours went by without having a cigarette. I would imagine for a moment the pleasures I get when smoking. I would imagine the nicotine-filled-smoke traveled from my lips to my blackened lungs, and how it would caress my tongue and tickled the back of my throat. Then the relaxation and the relieve of whatever burdens that was building up inside of me, would all come out along with large clouds of smoke as I exhaled out of the nose and mouth. Then I would give in and ran to the store to buy another pack of cigarette. Once again, shame and failure crept in and filled every part of me.
Then one day, I noticed a co-worker, a heavy smoker, was not smoking anymore. “Hey, I have not seen you light up a cigarette all day, did you quit or something?” I asked. “Yeah, for about two weeks now,” he replied. “Well how in the hell did you do that?” I pressed on. Then we exchanged stories and our experienced as smokers and the struggled we went through.
Our journey was the same. We have tried cold turkey, which is the term we
used in the smokers’ world or any substance dependency meaning to kick the habits completely without some means of help. According to Merriam-Webster, quitting in such a manner brings physical symptoms and withdrawal. Let us not focus on what a cold turkey is or its origin. Quitting cold turkey may work for others, but for both of us one hundred percent of the time, always lead to a more severe craving. Finally, he revealed to me how he had quit. I took his advice. I did not know any other ways. I wanted to quit so bad, but the cravings were so much stronger than my weakling minds. That afternoon, after my shift is over, I called my doctor. The next day, I stopped by Kaiser pharmacy after work to pick up NicoDerm and Nicorette he had prescribed.
I had followed the doctor’s instructions down to the T. I placed the NicoDerm patch differently each day on different body parts. I would use the Nicorette gum only if needed. The prescription lasted about a month. I called the doctor again for a refilled after three weeks. After forty-seven days, I am finally free: no more patches, no more gums, and most importantly no more cigarettes.
There are times when I think to myself that I would never be able to quit smoking. Well, I proved myself wrong. I have learned a lot from this experienced. But the one thing that stood out the most is that no matter who you are, we all need one another. Let us lift each other up and encourage one another. Let us kick butts together and overcome the demon that enslaved
us. Because we are all deserve a breath of smoke-free air.
