Tobackoff! #2 : The Process

WHY SHOULD YOU STOP ?

While I was waiting to see my chest physician, there was another patient waiting along with me, a lady who looked to be in her late 30’s, and was obviously very fit – so fit that I found myself wondering what she was there for ! My doctor later told me that she was a very heavy smoker, whose tests always came up with good results; so, she invariably came up with the question, “Why should I quit, Doc ? It’s clearly not harming me !”

Similar sentiments have been expressed by equally fit and very sensible people whom I have known. I once had a boss who had enviable control on the starts and stops – so he would go for days without a cigarette, or would smoke a whole pack in a day if the mood called for it. Naturally, he felt he wasn’t addicted, and he was right.

You do know, don’t you, that when you’re driving, the speed doesn’t significantly matter when it comes to an accident ? If it’s not your lucky day, you can get just as dead at 40 kmph, as you can at 100. Smoking’s a bit like that……the frequency and the number are just contributory factors – every bit of carcinogen each cigarette drops into your respiratory tract, simply clings on for dear life until it has enough brothers around to make up a party.

If you’re smoking, you should stop. Not because of sidestream smoke, global warming, the rest of the world and all that bunk – but because you owe it to yourself to give your body a chance to die of natural causes. And in the process, you set a great example.

WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD  ? 

Hey ! This may sound silly…..but it’s a fact that, once the decision’s made, the hard part is over ! You see, most smokers don’t quit because they don’t WANT to quit.  So it’s more a case of WON’Tpower rather than WILLpower.

But once you’ve decided that “I don’t need this s**t”, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is, people.

I had always realized that the difficulty of quitting smoking lay primarily in the fact that it was ASSOCIATIVE.

Yes, smoking associates with almost everything you do. Your early morning wake-up high. The additional sugar in your tea. Your morning dump. Your strong reaction to the excesses of  Sonia Gandhi / Sarah Palin / Che Guevara’s ghost. Your boss. The hot bod in the next cubicle who ignores your pheromonal signals. The celebratory drinks you have with ex-colleagues at the neighbourhood pub. Your Happy Hour favourite restaurant waiter. Your spouse’s “Not tonight, my dear, I have a headache” vibe…….and a whole host of other things.

So it’s actually childishly simple. Cut out the associations.

SHOULD THE TURKEY BE COLD ?Welcome to the debate !

It is one that smokers never tire of : The Great Theoretical Discussion – what’s the best way to quit smoking ? Over a 12-year period, I discovered that most arguments centre around these four permutations:

Cold Turkey – stop dead, just like that. No squawks allowed !

Hot Turkey: TRIAD (Tomorrow Really Is Another Day !) – keep deferring the next cigarette, until you actually stop.

Warm Turkey : TAS (The Accountants’ Solution) – the reducing balance method ! Smoke less today than you did yesterday. Revel  in the power of ONE ! So you smoke one less per diem, and work your way down to zero. Feels like forever !!

Lukewarm Turkey: (Aka Lucky Ali) – I smoke what I want, when I want, where I want ! Good grief, I smoke barely 2-3 a day ! Quitting is not a problem ! (*Snicker* you think ? why, then, are you always smoking ??)

I’ve been privy to all the discussions, ladies and gents.

And believe me, the turkey HAS to be cold !

The only way you can give up smoking is by coming to a dead halt. NOTHING else will work.