How Smoking Changed My Life

 If you’re a smoker, I wish your love story with smoking ends in a breakup, as mine did.

During my first year of college, I tried smoking, took smoke in my mouth, and released it, felt nothing so I didn’t smoke till my second job. Then something worse happened to me and I was asked to inhale the smoke and that was the first time in my life, I could feel the touch of smoking, I got high.

If you’re put on a spot and everyone is waiting for you to take a drag, “Don’t take it in, just keep it in mouth and release”.

I reached from a cigarette a day, to five and then a pack of 20 in no time. I would light up a cigarette whenever I was free. I light it up, 

• Before going to the toilet 

• After eating a meal, which later changed to after having even a snack.

• The walking time from my home to the taxi for work.

After finishing an activity which had me totally indulged like working, playing FIFA with friends and as soon as that activity was over the first thing that came to mind was a cigarette, not water, or food or anything.

I WAS ADDICTED!!!

It had become such a big part of my life more than a colleague, friend, family, guru. Even bigger than the essential things in life, like eating, cleaning teeth, taking a bath, work.

During work whenever I was stuck with a problem, I used to go out and have a cigarette and the solution would come to me and I started thinking it was because of the cigarette which led to more consumption of cigarettes.

I started smoking at home a few times. I was caught by mom as she entered my room and it would be filled with smoke.

Then the lockdown happened and it made getting cigarettes scarce, but whenever I was out of cigarettes to smoke I would go out to search for more tobacco to smoke and that was the only reason I went out. Slowly the cigarettes I used to smoke were no more so I bought the cheap bidis which were left and when I smoked them I felt so terrible inside that I didn't smoke for two or three days.

Those two-three days changed to week and then to month and so on. For a few months I used to get urges to smoke but then I would watch a youtube video of nick the smoker and I created a playlist of smoking videos on youtube and I would satisfy my craving by watching the playlist.

I think the quitting happened to me because of the lockdown situation and then a little will on my part to carry on that quitting process. If I compare my two lives, one smoking and the other after quitting I am a trillion light-years percent sure that it is after quitting I am satisfied, happy, feeling good about my life.

Things you could do to let smoking go

• Take one step at a time, do not smoke for an hour.

• Break it down more, for half an hour, keep the thought of quitting in your mind.

• Try cigarette alternatives in the market, even though they don’t work, keep thinking.

• Tell people in your life that you're trying to quit, keep poking your world to help you quit smoking.

At last, if you’re smoking. First, try to quit, else have control over it but never get addicted...