This is something that I am very glad to announce. In April of 2000 I quit smoking, and two years later I am still a non-smoker, meaning that I will never pick up that nasty habit again in my life.
I quit smoking on April of 2000. Some people ask me how I did it. Others don’t ask, but I am sure would be curious. So, here is my story.
For many years I had been telling myself that I ought to quit smoking, but I was not attempting it of the fear that I would fail to quit. But in fact, to quit smoking for me was not just a desire: there was fear involved, as I was always weary of the stats linking smoking to cancer. Also, I had always been worried about other people’s right to breathe air free of smoke, and I would often voluntarily go out of my way to ensure that I was not making people around me feel uncomfortable, so this was, in turn, making my own life difficult. Nonetheless, I was smoking a 25g bag in two to three days, meaning 20 to 25 cigarettes per day, and these roll-your-own cigarettes burn more than two times longer than your usual filter cigarette.
First of all let me say that Mr. Takis Maraletos, president of the company in which I was working at that time, had quit smoking in the beginning of 2000, and his decision to quit did have an instigating effect for my own decision. Also, while working at Mr. Maraletos’ company I was fortunate enough to have my own office, which put me in a position of not having to smell other people’s smoke. I have a very sensitive nose, so I guess this also counts.
On April of 2002 I became sick with pharyngitis, and when I am sick I generally I do not smoke, because cigarettes taste awful. Now, please bear in mind that during the last few years pharyngitis had become a yearly reoccurring phenomenon for me, and I had been told that there is a very strong connection between reoccurring pharyngitis, smoking, and cancer, so during those days I was re-thinking the whole smoking business anyway. Then, what really freaked me out was the realization that even before my sickness was completely over, my desire to smoke made me roll cigarettes, light them up, and try to smoke them, even though they still tasted horrible. I guess that was the final hint I needed. I finished that last bag of tobacco and never bought another one.
Some people ask how I did it. It is simple: I just stopped paying visits to the tobacco shop. You see, walking up to a tobacco shop, asking the man behind the counter for your particular brand of disease, paying for it, and picking it up, are all parts of a 100% conscious process. It is not possible to successfully perform this sequence of steps without being absolutely aware of what you are doing. So, if that is NOT what you want to be doing, then you can consciously refrain from doing it. I am not going to say it was easy: I did feel nervous, I did pass endless hours under the sensation that something was indeterminably missing from my life, and there were even times when I could not sit my ass on the chair to do the work that I had to do. But I knew that all these symptoms were to be expected, I knew I was not going to die because of lack of nicotine in my veins, and I knew that all I had to do in order to successfully quit was just this one simple thing: refrain from actually buying the damn thing.
I did not announce my decision to quit smoking to anyone, for two reasons: first, I did not want to play tricks with myself, such as promising everyone that I was quitting, and then forcing myself to keep my promise: besides doubting the effectiveness of such techniques, I think that such techniques are for people who are not 100% sure about their willingness to quit. Second, I was not sure whether I would actually manage to quit, (I was 100% sure about my willingness but not 100% sure about my ability,) so I did not want to say that I had quit smoking and then later find myself in contradiction. People would notice that I was not smoking anymore, and they would ask me if I quit, and I would just say “well, sort of, let’s just say I am not smoking during these days.” As you understand, this worked against me, because at any given time I could simply say “hey everyone, well guess what, my non-smoking days are over, and I am back into smoking again”, but believe me, it never even crossed my mind to make use of that option.
All of the withdrawal symptoms were over in a matter of two to three months, and after that it was simply a matter of resisting the occasional urge to bump a cigarette off a friend. After the summer (that is, on the fifth month after quitting,) I felt so sure about myself that I even bumped a cigarette off a friend, only to realize that I did not like its taste anymore. That was it. I had successfully quit.
Finally, let me add that Mr. Takis Maraletos started smoking again a few months after I quit, but that did not affect me at all. (Well, Takis, I did feel somewhat betrayed, but never mind.)
I hope this was helpful to any smokers out there.