In the midst of your Monday morning business meeting, do you find yourself fantasizing about puffing out warm wispy halo-shaped rings of smoke? Instead of your hour-long lunch break at 1, have you been repeatedly taking numerous 10 minute cigarette breaks all morning? Is the owner of the nearest hole-in-the-wall cigarette shop fast becoming your best friend? Well, if your answer to all these questions is a resounding YES, then it’s time to consider the alarming possibility that you are suffering from an addiction to smoking. The first smoking fact you need to internalize is that, this addiction is sure to have a negative effect on your life. Sooner or later, you will be entrapped, victimized by your own habits, feeding into a vicious cycle of withdrawal and abuse, draining your valuable resources, both monetary and intellectual, into a pursuit that is worthless, useless, of practically no beneficial effect, but with possibly fatal consequences.
Once you have confronted the fact of your addiction, you have to ask yourself the question: Are a few minutes of self gratification worth putting your life and livelihood at stake? Does this self-indulgence behavior not fade in comparison to the fact that you may be putting the health of those you love and cherish, at terrible risk? Yes, if you don’t already know, the smoke you emit while you indulge yourself (second hand smoke) may be causing severe damage to the heart and lungs, and various other important organs of your children, your spouse, your friends, colleagues, your unborn child, or even the strangers you pass as you walk on the streets.
In addition to this, the effects of tobacco smoke could actually be slowing your body and brain down, by distorting your perception of time. In this way it’s highly likely that you will take double the amount of time your non-smoking colleague takes to complete the same amount of work. Judging from this estimate, he is also sure to get that promotion both of you want in half the amount of time that you take!
If that is not motivation enough to make you try to quit, just consider the sheer monetary losses you are incurring. You could be saving up to 3000 dollars a year if you quit! Was that your spouse in the next room just now, grumbling that the two of you never have enough money left over to take a relaxing trip to the mountains?
After having read through these alarming smoking facts, perhaps you are quietly muttering to yourself now, “I tried, but I just couldn’t”. Yes, we understand the sense of frustration that is experienced by those of you who tried, but were sucked back into the vortex, afraid to face the debilitating withdrawal effects. This is arguably the most difficult aspect of addiction to overcome. Yet if you can grit your teeth and get through that difficult, challenging phase, there are incalculable benefits waiting on the other side:
o Your health is sure to improve, as is your children’s. Think about it: you are protecting your children and their friends from repeated ear, chest, nasal infections, and life-threatening diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease because of second hand smoke
o You will be working faster without the disruptions caused by numerous cigarette breaks. Your performance at work is sure to improve once you look at the computer screen with a mind free from the smoke-induced stupor
o that usually slows you down at work. In no time you will be back in the race for that long-awaited, but never achieved promotion!
o Your relationship with your spouse or partner is sure to improve. Not only will you be more attentive and alert to his or her emotional requirements, you will also improve your physical appearance by degrees. You no longer have to hide the nicotine stains on your teeth and fingernails. And you can speak freely and comfortably without worrying about displeasing your audience with oral malodor, or halitosis that is so common among smokers. So now you have the money, time and the physical confidence to take that long overdue holiday with your significant other!
After considering these vital smoking facts, you are sure to have understood that tobacco smoking, whether you smoke a pipe, a hookah, or a common cigarette, is, as the cigarette boxes perfunctorily say, INJURIOUS TO HEALTH. So the sooner you embark on that journey toward de-addiction, the better for you. Not only will it boost your self-image and infuse yourself with a new-found sense of confidence, it will also endear you to your friends and family. When you quit smoking, you show them that you are a responsible member of the community, who is judicious about not only his own health, but also responsible and accountable for those lives which are woven around his. So take that difficult step, gather all your friends and family members around you enlist their help and support and quit, once and for all. See you on the other side!
