In our previous article, we emphasised the negatives and difficulties of giving up smoking, but there are positives which far outweigh the bad things. After that initial three months, when you will probably cough more than ever before, you will find that you will wake up in the morning with a clear chest and without that hacking cough so typical of the inveterate smoker. When you're still struggling with the giving up process, it is a good idea to get all your curtains and soft furnishings laundered or dry cleaned to get rid of the smell of smoke. The cost of this will make you think twice about smoking in that room again and the added benefit is that when you walk into your lounge in the morning, you will be able to sniff the air and think "Thank goodness, the whole place doesn't reek of smoke". You won't have filthy ashtrays to wash either. Along the same lines, either wash or dry clean all your suits, trousers, skirts, jackets and jumpers because although you probably didn't realise it, they smell horrible. Give your colleagues a treat and don't go to work smelling of an old ashtray, even though you've actually stopped smoking. Soon enough, they will start to comment on the newfound freshness of the atmosphere and you will realise what it was like for them, smelling your second had smoke every day. When you go to work, it will no longer be you who needs to be escorted outside for a cigarette when visiting another company's premises. It won't be you standing outside your own office block having a quick puff and it won't be you about whom your colleagues complain when you take a cigarette break, although no one else gets to leave their desk at that time. When you go out for a social occasion, particularly at someone's home, you won't be the lone smoker attracting disapproving looks. It will no longer be you asking your hostess if she minds you smoking and receiving a refusal and it won't be you standing outside on your own having a solitary puff, while the others eat, drink and make merry. Social alienation ends here! The chances of suffering from lung cancer, breast cancer and heart disease will decrease with every month that you don't smoke and eventually, your likelihood of contracting any of those will be back where it was before you ever smoked. When you play tennis, squash or football with your friends or at your club, you will suddenly find that you no longer puff and pant when you have to run one width of the court. Your opponents will realise that they can't be careless with the ball and rely on your lack of fitness any more, in order to win the point or score that goal. You will actually feel better after exercise, not worse. Last of all, you will have more spare money than you know what to do with. In the UK a packet of cigarettes costs approximately 5 at the time of writing (more than $9 US and over 7 Euros), so if you were a twenty a day person, you were spending 1,825 a year on cigarettes, probably more. That's a lot of money and it might serve as further encouragement to stick with your resolution, to calculate at the end of each week, how much money you've saved so far. You could even open up a separate savings account and put the money in it with a view to taking a nice holiday or revamping your kitchen. No matter how hard it may be to stop smoking, be assured that the benefits far outweigh the pain. |
