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Thousands of people are addicted to smoking, and, every day,
thousands of people fight the battle of breaking this addiction.
But, how can someone go about successfully quitting smoking?
There are many reasons to quit, but the most important reason is
for your self.
Quitting for Others
Many people trying to quit smoking are doing so in order to make
others happy. They try to quit so their spouse will quit
nagging. They try to stop because their job frowns upon smoking.
They try to put out the cigarette because society has made
smoking unacceptable. They try to quit because their kids look
at them with big, puppy dog eyes and plead with them to stop.
While it is great to have family and friends around you who care
and who want to see you stay around awhile longer than you will
if you continue smoking, the only reason that will truly
motivate you is if you quit for yourself.
Sure, pleasing those around you may get you to start on the road
toward recovery from nicotine addiction. You might tell
yourself, "I'm doing it for my kids. I don't want them to see me
go through cancer." Or, you might think, "If I quit smoking, my
spouse might finally just leave me alone about it." While these
thoughts may get you initially motivated to quit smoking, they
won't help you sustain a cigarette free life. In fact, quitting
for others might just help you make excuses to start back up
again. For example, you might quit for your spouse, and then
when you have a disagreement about something, you might say,
"I'll show him (or her)." Next thing you know, you're lighting
up. You may not think you would do that, but we do strange
things when we're upset - even destroy our own bodies.
Why You Should Quit for Yourself
There are plenty of reasons you should quit for yourself. A
couple of them even do tie into quitting for others, but with a
slightly different slant. For example, you might quit because of
your kids, but not for them. By this I mean that you might want
to quit so you can enjoy spending more years with them, rather
than because you don't want to see them get hurt by your early
death. This may sound selfish, but you have to think about
yourself when you are trying to quit. You have to convince
yourself there are many reasons to quit that will benefit you
personally.
Of course, there is the obvious health benefits involved with
quitting. If you quit, you put years back onto your life. This
is because you have now effectively reduced your chances of
developing high blood pressure, heart disease, throat cancer,
lung cancer, and emphysema. You have also lessened your
likelihood of having a heart attack and of developing gum
disease and ulcers, just to name a few.
If you aren't feeling too concerned about the inside of your
body, consider the outside. Smoking makes your finger and teeth
yellow, not to mention the bad smell. Of course, you probably
don't realize just how bad it smells because your sense of taste
and smell has both been dulled by smoking! Fortunately, quitting
will help bring back these small joys of life.
In addition, smoking makes your skin wrinkle faster,
particularly on your face. Not only that, the notion that
smoking makes a person look "cool" has been gone for a long
time. In fact, the majority of people are less attracted to
people who smoke than the other way around.
Of course, there are also the financial rewards of quitting
smoking. Most smokers will save literally thousands of dollars
every year by simply quitting smoking. Just imagine all of the
things you can do for you if you quit. Perhaps you have seen
some new outfits or shoes you would like to buy at the end of a
year of successfully not smoking. Maybe you can purchase a new
entertainment center, or buy that new transmission for your
project car. Perhaps you can take that vacation you have always
wanted to take. If you managed to win the battle against this
addiction, go ahead and spoil yourself - you deserve it!
Consider it a celebration of saving your own life.
About the author:
Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online
and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16
year old son. For help to quit smoking go to
http://www.quitsmokingplus.com
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