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The Good Way To Give Up Smoking Is The Natural Way
The author of the article has been a life long smoker from Europe. After immigrating to the US, and being diagnosed with asthma, nearing her middle age, she was trying to quit smoking nearly on everyday basis, but all of the efforts miserably did not succeed. Nicotine gum and patches didn't work for her, hence she consulted her physician, who enrolled her in a program and suggested pills, but that didn't her her quit smoking either. What she discovered was that a drastic change of routine worked excellently in her case. Somewhat amusing approach to a quite serious matter recommends that everybody have to find what works best for them, as well-known "one size fits all" approach never makes everybody contented.
In the first person: I was born 40 something years before in Europe, with a cigarette in my mouth. My parents smoked, my relatives smoked, my friends smoked. My father is 82 and still a chain smoker. Smoking is an necessary part of cultural habits, meeting people, and having excitement. For a culture that lives on lanes full of cafes, smoking is not optional, it's nearly necessary.
I was 13 when I got addicted on cigarettes, enough to begin budgeting part of my daily allowance for cigarettes. Mind you, I wasn't an outcast, a straight A learner, from a well-to-do academic family, I was actually trying to fit in. At that point, and also several years later, trying to stop smoking was not even in the back of my mind. It will take me 30 more years to get to that point.
Writer by profession, smoking was vastly a part of my daily routine. It was exactly like it used to be in the old black and white movies - me, the typewriter, and the big ashtray with the cigarette butts heaped up high. Soon after I moved to the US, the problems with my smoking resulted. They were not only of social nature any more; they became a health concern also. Not only did I move to the Bay Area, California, which was the undoubted leader in the witch look for smokers, I was detected with asthma.
I may say from that moment on, 15 years ago, I was trying to quit smoking on an everyday basis. There was by now a severe change in place for me - I couldn't smoke at my workplace any more and I had to time my smoking habits according to the office timetable. It was tougher at home because my associate, an American, was a smoker also.
We decided to merely smoke outside the home. That didn't work at all, since, alas, it's California, the climate is pleasant year around, so we both ended up only sleeping in the house, while living, eating, having friends over on the back yard patio. It's amazing with how much yard work you can spend - our postage stamp sized back yard became more like a jungle with heirloom tomatoes, tea roses, sweet peas, and citrus trees.
I lastly quit smoking cold turkey. Two years afterward, with a new lease on life, I'm proud to say - I haven't had a cigarette ever since. I understand it very well: once an addict, always an addict and I had my share of night sweats, nightmares, inevitable shivers, uncontrollable crying. But I can always say it was resulted by my divorce drama, not nicotine. Every now and then, during lunch break in the fiscal area, I stop by someone smoking in front of their office building. Second hand smoke still smells so nice.
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