Please Stop Smoking

Found this excellent article on quitting cigarettes. I understand the addiction and applaud the efforts of everyone trying to stop. Need a bit of motivation? Read this.

Please post your comments, tips and suggestions for overcoming addiction.

Courtesy: Health Essentials

Please Stop Smoking

Dragon’s Den star Duncan Bannatyne was on BBC Breakfast this morning talking about his new anti-smoking initiative in schools.

GBP 2,111 (the average annual per capita cost of indulging the smoking addiction) is on offer to the youngster deemed to have the most novel way of persuading his/her parents to kick the habit.

Having been a smoker for many years … and knowing how annoying it was to constantly be badgered to give up … I remain fascinated by the mentality of smokers.

The right to control our own fate is the logic that always surfaces in the face of evidence that smoking will kill you in a most undignified manner. Oh, and the mythical auntie who smoked all her life and reached the ripe old age of 90-something.

Is this the addiction talking, or are millions of otherwise sentient adults profoundly immature and delusional? Of course it’s the addiction.

And, as non-smokers, we understand this. Sort of.

What I don’t understand is how selfish people can be. OK, so one can’t reason with an addict who is grasping at straws … but surely these folk must understand just how antisocial the habit is? Don’t they care about the smell? Most embrace personal hygiene. Most hate the smell of garlic, or halitosis … or body odor.

So why don’t they recognize that the smell of stale cigarette smoke is every bit as offensive to non-smokers?

As with dieting and weight-loss, all common sense yields to far more powerful psychological forces. Let’s hope that we can begin to understand a little bit more about these so that more people can become free … and so the rest of us don’t have to put up with the stench just to interact with people we care about.