Making progress with something as serious as Smoking is sometimes terrifyingly difficult. Smoking can be extremely difficult to stop. Considering it has been calculated that every cigarette you smoke can reduce your lifespan on average by as much as eleven minutes it is no wonder that a person can get extremely worried if they are not able to give up the habit. The cost of smoking is also crippling for some people the average person in the United States spends between $1500 and $3300 dollar a year on cigarettes. Even the exposure to second-hand smoke is a dramatic killer, second-hand smoke in the United States alone kills nearly 50,000 people a year. Therefore smokers can feel very guilty that their smoking is having a terrible effect on their loved ones around them. The problem is massive, roughly fifteen billion cigarettes are smoked worldwide everyday. The desire to quit is there, sixty nine percent of smokers say they would like to quit. Many feel trapped by this horrendous habit, living with both the psychological guilt of smoking or the horrendous physical symptoms caused by smoking.
On a personal level I have struggled to quit smoking for nearly eight years, the longest time I have been able to quit smoking for was three months. Other attempts have lasted around a month. For myself without cigarettes I seem to have miserable moods, I have previously been overcome this by substituting the smoking with exercise. This is usually effect, as the exercise levels my mood. The craving for cigarettes however does not seem to pass. I am aiming to try quitting again tomorrow Thursday 25th of May. I hope I am able to master it this time. I do not smoke in front of my family. This is because smoking to me is almost like death itself.
My Dad used to smoke though he was able to quit around twenty two years old as he found something else he loved to do more than smoking, he took up gliding. I have been unable to as yet find such a substitute. The coughing in a morning is awful, sometimes it is that bad that I am physically sick. I find it horrible, but I can’t seem to break away from it completely, I sometimes take half a day away from cigarettes but then find myself smoking again. Smoking also killed both of my grandfather’s one with heart conditions and the other with emphysema.
Smoking also can make it difficult to lose weight as when you smoke you don’t always feel like exercising. Smoking and exercising are not complementary. It limits you breathing ability and makes exercise seem a burden. I have run the Great North Run before in north east England though I had a cigar after it. To quit smoking for me would be a great feeling, to be smoke free would be brilliant. I look forward to the day’s I am smoke free as I know I can do it, it just for how long I will be able to keep it up I don’t know as I cannot comprehend yet that I would not have another cigarette.
My brother recently stopped smoking which is frankly inspirational to me. He is a few years my senior, thirteen to be precise. He just finished a pack one day and didn’t pick up another cigarette after that. He must of had it firmly in his mind that he didn’t want to touch a cigarette again. Perhaps it was his new family that gave him this strength. It shows to me that it can be done and that is encouraging.
