Your own personal death sentence

I just learnt that Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death by hanging. The news broke as I began to file this week's post which is all about why we quit. As the media around the world scramble to report on what is clearly a significant event in world affairs we are now past that time of the year where the smoking death toll will have topped the 4 million mark. No headlines there and I often wonder, why not?

As an ex-smoker I am at least comforted that as I am now quit I am doing the best I can to not only improve my chances of dying a less painful death but also by improving my chances of living a better life. I have a reduced risk of blindness, heart attack and a whole host of other smoking related complications. My cleaner, healthier, lungs and heart are contributing greatly to my general sense of wellbeing.

When you quit smoking you're not just positively influencing the length of your life and the nature of your eventual demise, you're also making a major positive change to the way you live. And that is the driving force behind my sustained quit. I have more energy, a stable mood, I get more time in my daily life to breath deeply and enjoy the gift of life. Looking back, being a smoker was like being half a person; a heavy heart in the morning, being a bear until I had my first smoke, a disinterest in any activity that would stop me from being able to smoke for more than 20 minutes and - although I didn't know it at the time - a right royal pain in the butt to all my non-smoking friends. It was a self imposed death sentence, a living death which halved the experience of living for over 20 years.

There is a lot of focus from health organizations, online resources and governments that being a smoker is all about when and how you're going to die. It's not. Being a smoker is about beating yourself down 20 to 40 times a day, every day, and holding yourself back from being what nature intended you to be.

Sure, when I was a smoker I thought I was fine. I thought I was fit. But since I quit... well, I have learnt that I was lying to myself all those years, robbing me of my youth and slowly driving myself into a rut.

Being quit is about starting to live again. Quitting can roll back your sense of age by decades and I can't recommend it more. Short of never smoking at all, quitting is by far the single most important thing you can do you in your life.

Today I'd like to point you to a website which is going to help you get your head around quitting, around the inner dialogues that can mean the difference between success and failure. Today you can do something great for yourself. Put aside some time this evening, make yourself a cup of tea and go and read the valuable articles on CognitiveQuitting.com.

Sunday, November 05, 2006