I was a smoker for most of my adult life, it started way back when I was in my teens, mainly through peer pressure, I thought it was cool and impressive as well feel grown up. This craze suddenly became a strong habit I couldn’t stop and one I couldn’t get by without as I got older. I had to start the day with a cigarette and end the night with one, the thought of socialising, gigging, attending functions coping with stressful events without one would have been enough to frighten me to death.
We all know about the harmful effects of smoking but it has never detered the billions of people indulged in the habit and I wasn’t going to listen to anybody preach to me against it because I wasn’t interested in giving up, if I was down on my luck and was down to my last ┬ú5 and I had a choice of either buying food or cigarettes I would buy the latter.
As I was getting into my forties a lot of people were getting health concious and cigarettes weren’t as hip and trendy as they were back in the day, quite a lot of my friends didn’t smoke and I really started to notice the difference, as time went by I found myself smoking less frequently around them, to the point that some of my friends thought I didn’t smoke anymore, the only place I really felt comfortable smoking was at home and I had to make an effort to open all the windows so as not to smoke the place out. I began to smoke less cigarettes to the stage a standard box would last me for a week and a half, I began to feel uncomfortable smoking around people in bus shelters, bars, stations or other places people didn’t smoke around me, I would make a great effort to locate a confined space to hide and enjoy a cigarette and I would have some sweets or chewing gum to eat when I finish so the tobacco scent on my breath couldn’t be detected. I remember last year I was with a friend having a drink and a smoke at a jazz bar, reminding each other about the smoking ban in public areas which would be in place the following year and worrying how would we cope with it. Well the following week while I was at home I had a box in front of me and I thought that I’m in my later years in life and I can’t be bothered with all the hassle left, right and centre so I decided that the contents in that box would be my last, by the end of the week that was it, finished, I haven’t regretted it, I’ve since been around smokers and I haven’t been tempted, the smoking ban in public places comes into place next month and I can’t wait, I have noticed some changes, I smell cleaner, live healthier and I have more money left over each month with what I save on cigarettes, sweets and chewing gum. I did not even consider vape kits. It’s something that some people consider as an alternative. But I think it would not totally help me to quit. It might just worsen the situation I had. So decided to stand firm on my goal and offered my full commitment to quit.
