When I Stopped Smoking

by Carla

One day I decided to stop smoking because I was not feeling well. I tried the medication Centax to stop smoking. Medication worked for a period of 2 months. Then something happened in my life and set me back. So I started to smoke again. This time I got sick of smoking so I prayed and asked the lord to help me and he did. I went to sleep one night. The next morning when I woke up the taste for a smoke was gone. I haven't smoked since. I feel so much better about myself. My health has improved. That's what it feels like to not smoke.

Smoking

Smoking cigarettes is bad in general. Not only is it bad for your lungs, it is bad for your teeth, hair, and skin. Should smoking be banned in public areas? I think it should be banned altogether.

There are millions of smokers in the United States alone. That does not include the smokers in any other country. People will likely never stop smoking. The citizens that are against tobacco use are still going to try and get cigarette smokers to stop. Already, some major cities are beginning to ban smoking in public places such as restaurants and some bars.

I plan to stop smoking because of the damage that it is doing to my respiratory system and because the nicotine is staining my teeth yellow. Smoking is also harmful to the people around it because secondhand smoke is still harmful to anyone that breathes it in. I know that if I have children, I wouldn't want them to breathe that stuff.

Smoking may eventually be restricted to designated, well-ventilated areas where the smoke is only harmful to them. One day it could be banned completely. I think that would lead to a happier and healthier community.

When were you an advocate for yourself or someone else?

Almost everybody has been an advocate sometime in their life. I have been an advocate for myself, recently, when I stopped smoking. However, it wasn't that easy, but somehow I managed to do it. I strongly made up my mind, gathered some helpful information, and tried my best to be patient.

It is very important to make sure that you really want to quit smoking, otherwise it is not going to happen. For instance, I quit two times before, but, I wasn't successful because I really didn't know exactly why I was doing it and I couldn't make up my mind until recently.

Secondly, it would be really helpful to gather information that explains about the difficulty that your body might experience and this data will make it easier to go through quitting. For example, I found the website that is called "easyquit.com," and I found out that having a lot of snacks around me helps me to keep my mind occupied and not to think about smoking.

Thirdly, stopping smoking is not something that just happens overnight. It takes time, and somehow we have to create this ability to be patient. For instance, for me the hard part was the first two months, but I knew this would come to the end finally.

All these steps helped me to overpower that habit. Making a strong decision, having knowledge about what we are doing, and having patience for the result led me to quit smoking successfully.

-- by a GED student