Tobackoff #9 : Thank You For Not Smoking

So it’s World No Tobacco Day today (just past it for my American friends, and just about there for my Antipodean contacts), a reminder to me that I was an inveterate smoker of 40 sticks a day, and quit completely just under 6 years ago. It’s a day of reflection for me, because I dumped overnight – quite unceremoniously- a habit that had become so completely a part of me that I hadn’t been able to shed it for all of 26 years.

Not too much has changed on the smoking horizon in these 6 years. There are still teens taking up smoking, and there are more women doing it than ever before. Nearly all buildings are no-smoking zones, but all of them have designated smoking areas that are always full. As do airports. Cigarette packs still carry warnings, many of them lurid, which continue to be ignored. And, at 12 bucks a pop for the average long cigi, it’s still a very, very expensive habit to cultivate.

But believe me, the money outflow is just half the cost, if that. There’s the social ostracism – countries such as Australia, for instance, have all but outlawed smoking; there’s the change in appearance – your skin hardens and crinkles, your nails and teeth stain, your complexion darkens; there’s the long-term impact on health – smoking may or may not kill you, but it sure as hell will slow you down.

I’ve been asked very often about how I did it. I say in all honesty that I expected it to be impossible, but I realized that the impossible is just something that takes a little longer.

The seed was sown when I realized that smoking was no longer “fun” (that had indeed been the foolish starting point) – it was messy (you feel like a travelling volcano all the time), compulsive (you smoke because you don’t know what to do with your hands – is that even a reason ?) and intrusive (you need to “administer” it to yourself to kick-start certain mental and physical processes).

From then on, it was just a matter of focus. “Just one day”, I told myself, and that turned out to be fairly easy; and then it was “why not another ?” and so on. At the same time, I stayed off the standard smoking-inducers for a few days – the company of friends; smoking people; alcohol and music; tea and coffee; and so on. The pangs in the first three days were intense – but from the fourth day onwards, it was not unlike waiting for a delayed breakfast. After day ten, I was there. A month later, friends could light up in front of me without a qualm.

Like all bad habits, though, not smoking is valid only until the next time you decide to smoke. You just need to make the right decision.

Choose to quit smoking, or to not start, because you have just one life – and that life doesn’t need the tobacco.