We still convince ourselves that smoking is just a bad habit like nagging, procrastination, swearing, moaning or being lazy. The reality is that we’re well aware of the health dangers and how bad it is for us, but we continue to do it.
Many of these bad habits can be classed as anti-social but we continue, as a society, to pass them off as part of the human condition. We ease our conscience by convincing ourselves that our bad habits aren’t hurting anyone else even though we know that to be untrue. At various times we all have some bad habits and should make more of an effort to stop rather than ignore them.
Stop fooling yourself! Your smoking habit is dangerous to you and those around you - you are a drug addict, smoking is drug abuse!
Wasting your hard-earned money on smoking cigarettes, cigars or even chewing tobacco also contributes to bad money management, just the same as gambling or drinking alcohol. It deprives you and your loved ones of some of the things you’d like or need because of the shortage of money.
We use excuses like “I’ll be miserable” or “I’ll replace it with food and stack on weight”. These are simply other bad habits that we feel we need to start to fill the void left by stopping smoking, but it’s just as easy to replace a bad habit with a good one. Problem is, most smokers are time wasters, they’ll often announce that they’ll give up tomorrow or at the end of the week/month and continue to ignore the good advice of family or friends to quit.
Enough of my lecturing lets look at some of the advantages of choosing to stop smoking (think of it as choosing to act not as “giving something up”!). As I said before, one big change will be in your wallet. You will have more money to spend on things you need or want - the money will be in your pocket not in the pockets of the tobacco companies or the government.
Now to the benefits to your health. Did you know that within 20 minutes your heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure return to a normal range!
The stale tobacco smell on your breath starts to disappear after 8 hours and the carbon monoxide levels in your bloodstream begin dropping back to normal. Your smokers cough disappears after 2 months and your energy levels start to increase, this is because your lungs and circulation are a lot cleaner and working much better.
After 12 months the odds of a heart attack will have halved and the possibility of contracting cancer will be dramatically reduced. In 10 years you’re in the same category as someone who has never smoked at all for heart attack or stroke!
Then there’s the social benefits of choosing to quit… everyone who doesn’t smoke will admire you for your decision, especially your loved ones and friends. What about the added health benefit of not having to go outside in the cold of winter or the heat of summer just to have a drag, instead you could be inside with your work colleagues enjoying good conversation over a cup of coffee.
How about being an effective role model for your children and grandchildren? We all know that little children will copy what they see their parents or grandparents do, so it gets down to what you’d prefer them to imitate… your smoking habit or your brand new healthy lifestyle, doesn’t it?