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Today is day #2 of not smoking. Again. I’ve done this many, many times and always gone back to it for one reason or another. Reason number one I suppose, is that I actually enjoy it. Love it. Can’t get enough. Smoke, smoke, smoke.

Problem is – you can do that in your late teens. “It’s cool and I want to fit in”.
In your early twenties. “Everyone else smokes – why shouldn’t I?”.
In your mid-twenties. “Everyone I want to hang out with smokes. My partner smokes!”.

There’s always a justifying reason that you keep on hand to explain why you’re smoking. It’s what smokers do.

We all know the risks. Cancer, pneumonia, bronchitis, death, disease, plagues of locusts. Blah blah blah. Yeah – we get it – it’s bad for us but yet we still do it. We have our reason.

But then, you kinda grow up one day. For me – the first time I quit smoking, I was just fed up with feeling like crap every single morning and hacking my insides up every time I attempted to insert a toothbrush in my smoke-hole.

Now, I’m not one of those half-baked, half-assed people who can say to themselves: “I know it’s bad, but I can’t stop. I’ll cut down to 5 a day”. I don’t believe in moderation – you either go the whole hog with something, or don’t bother. I really don’t believe that people who say they smoke 5 a day (or 10 a day or whatever) really do anyway. It’s like asking a gambler how he did … they’ll say:

a) “I’m about even, actually!” (real meaning: down)
b) “I’m a few hundred down” (real meaning: a few thousand down)
c) “I’m up!” (real meaning: even)

Anyway – I digress. That’s a subject for another day. For me – pretty much everything is all or nothing. There’s no such thing as an ex-smoker. An ex-smoker is a smoker who is currently not smoking.

So – if it’s smoking – I either do, or I don’t. And I tell ya: when I smoke – I really smoke. Loads of ‘em. The first thing I think about when I wake up. I love it. It’s difficult to explain to someone who has never smoked – but if you’re one of those people reading this – please don’t start. It really is extremely difficult stop – and some people, as we know – just cannot. They cannot endure the withdrawal pain.

For me – the only way to stop smoking is to stop putting the damn things in my mouth and lighting them. Simple as that. It’s all about will-power. You don’t need drugs, gum, pills, injections, nico-bollocks, smoke-be-gone or any of the other crap that the big pharma has dreamt up to “solve” a problem created by big tobacco.

All you need is will-power. You either smoke, or you don’t. Choose one. And do it.

It’s up to you how long you keep up that state of smoking or not-smoking. Personally, I find the idea of never smoking again more painful than not smoking today. So, for now at least, smoking has been suspended.

Anyone got a light? Kidding …