May
31st, 2018.
Newspapers,
magazines, journals, news channels and almost every media available announce
the ‘World No Tobacco Day’ and endlessly woo smokers to give up the habit. A host of articles enumerating the hazards of
smoking cover all the dailies delivered at doorsteps. The internet is abuzz
with videos covering visual accounts of near fatal cases due to smoking. Commercials
in almost every form of communication pump up the pot purée of information with
likewise disastrous descriptions.
And
yet the smoker reaches for his pack and lights another cigarette!
I
remember years back when I was graduating, we used to jokingly term a cigarette
as “a roll of tobacco with fire on one end and a sucker on the other!” Years later
when most of us became ‘suckers’ eventually, the joke spiked out more
embarrassingly than humorously.
The
fact is, just like within every fat man there is a thin man dying to get out
and vice versa, within every smoker is a man desperately trying to beat the
habit of lighting up a cigarette every 15 minutes with a deceptive desire to
finally “light that one last puff” once and for all…
The
fact is that every smoker is absolutely aware of all the hazards of his vice
and no amount of information, data, statistics, facts or figures proving it all
will make that big difference resulting in the smoker chucking the habit.
The
fact is that the smoker knows he’s hooked by a powerful drug called Nicotine existing
in tobacco and as long as his brain craves it he will remain a prisoner to
his vice.
Like
every smoker, I knew I was literally burning away both my health and finances
for just that craving for a few ‘puffs’ more. And as long as the craving
taunted me night and day, I gave a damn about anything else but lighting up and
believing how much I was enjoying every moment ecstatically as I deeply inhaled
the smoke into my lungs giving myself a temporary ‘high’ till the next cigarette.
And never mind the dirty nicotine stained teeth or the discolored finger tips.
But
yet, there are smokers like me who finally did give it up, and quite suddenly!
YES, it can be done and it’s actually no big deal!!
The truth is that no amount of emotional blackmailing or advice from relatives and
friends made me make the decision to quit. Quitting a vice that one has lived
with over several years can’t be done on somebody else’s opinion, guidance or
suggestion. Quitting a vice is a very personal thing. The decision lies
squarely on the victim of the vice and on nothing or no one else.
So
then how did I manage to quit? Did I have an exemplary Will Power over others?
Was it because I loved my family and close friends so profoundly that I wanted
to do it for them? Or was it because of the circulation of so much information
on the nuisances of smoking intermittently being bombarded right from several
media options available to the permanent cigarette packet design?
Actually,
it was none of those. Like I said, giving up any vice is a very personal
decision and no one can ever influence it except one’s own mind! It was just
one amazing moment in my life when I suddenly and most passionately wanted to
change the way I existed. And just to never, ever light another cigarette in my
life. The fact is that when I deeply desired to become the CHANGE I secretly
always wanted to be, this desire overtook and overshadowed a continuously nagging
desire to remain the SAME as always. And the moment that happened, I chucked it
all away and never looked back again! So when I say giving up a vice is a very
personal thing, I know that this is the truth because I am a practical witness
to prosecuting my own iniquity.
To
all the smokers across the world who are actually enjoying their regular bouts of
‘puffing’ it up, don’t bother about how good or bad it is for you. Don’t give a
damn on who, genuinely or sincerely, want you to give up the habit. And don’t
even remotely fancy that you lack a formidable Will Power to never light
another puff (after all, how does it matter anyway). And of course, screw the
fact that you have smoked away buying a new house or a fancy car or even some
top of the line threads for your wardrobe with every cigarette you bought and
puffed over the years.
But
for those of you who secretly desire to quit smoking once and for all…all you
got to do is do what I did. First, seriously contemplate on it. Then give
yourself a comfortable time frame to quit. And as you gradually reach towards
the end of the timeframe, continuously keep concentrating on crafting an
intense desire within yourself to become the CHANGE that you covertly wanted to
be instead of remaining the SAME as always. It’s really this simple. After all,
you wouldn’t be doing all this if you seriously didn’t want a change!
CHANGE
is an amazing constant. Yes, it will be a wee bit difficult in the beginning. A
little tough in the middle. But AWE-INSPIRING at the end! It all depends on how
passionately you have desired to embrace the CHANGE.
And
believe me. If I can do it…SO CAN YOU!!
Anand
K Nair
Leadership & Motivational
Speaker. Mentor. Counselor. Author. Business Consultant.
Founder,
Anand
Nair Leadership Foundation
Email:
anand@agnileadership.com
www.facebook.com/anandnairleadershipfoundation
Author
of: The Sledgehammer's Edge
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