Man on the moon?

[nsd_user663_58909]

I want to give up smoking – simple enough – a statement that is made by many and done by many but am I one of those many:confused:

I suppose if I look at it without the rose coloured specs, I reckon my chances of giving up are just about the same as a man landing and actually walking on the moon. But hey, hang on a minute, that has actually happened so, if that’s possible, surely it’s possible for me to give up/quit smoking?

Now how many of us, including me, have said at some point I will just have this one and then I am giving up? And then proceeded to have another a little later. How many of us at some time, have said, I am not buying any more cigs? And then, whilst out, have gone and bought another pack. How many of us whilst doing this have thought ourselves/myself so righteous because we have only bought a 10 pack instead of a 20 with the sole purpose of trying to convince our minds and ourselves and maybe possibly others that we ARE cutting down prior to giving up? How many of us have said at one time or another, why the hell am I doing this? And how many of us, have carried on doing it just the same? How many of us have heard/know of all the risks that we as smokers take but still we carry on smoking because we tell ourselves that cancer, et al, happens to others but never, no, not to us?

No one person is perfection personified. What it comes down to is this, we are all human - no matter what our age, our sex, our qualifications, how much money we have or haven’t got and anything else you care to think about that is relevant – and humans or human beings should you prefer have failings, whether these are big or small and whether these can be seen by others or not. This is what makes the world such an interesting place to be – can you imagine what life would be like if we were all perfect :eek:- each and every one of us was exactly the same :eek::eek:– same thoughts, same brain power, same everything – personally, I don’t want to even think about it.

In a perfect world though, there would be no illness, everyone would live forever and perhaps, just perhaps, there would be a pill that smokers could take one night and lo and behold, they would wake the following morning, non-smokers! Impossible, perhaps, likely not very but one can dream, can’t one?

So, what has the man landing on the moon got to do with smoking – I’m sure you’re all wondering but if you read on, perhaps what I say will give you at least one, although there are probably many and varied others, explanation. You be the judge and, if you like, the jury and also the executioner!

Perhaps the first thing that I should say and which does spring to mind is that you never, ever or perhaps I missed it, see an astronaut smoking whilst in their ‘rocket’ on in space. I suppose then that to help us on our journey we could maybe volunteer to become an astronaut as that would most definitely be a cool way and an extremely good aid to our quitting! Spend half our time in space and the other half in bed sleeping and lo and behold, we've cracked it - no more smoking

On a serious note however, for many years now, we have had the technology and/or know how to put people on the moon. There has also been one break-through quickly followed by even more in the world of medicine. Time does not and never will standstill much as we sometimes wish it to.

However, for a lot of people, myself included, I am fairly certain that there are other things that they could spend money on which would be truly beneficial to a great many - for instance, the pill I spoke of in an earlier paragraph. I for one, should someone develop such a tablet, would most positively head up the queue of volunteers to be a ‘guinea pig’ on trials.

Actually, the chances of anyone developing such a drug are extremely remote and I would go so far as to say definitely not in my lifetime but there is life and as the old saying goes, where there’s life there is hope. It is such a shame/pity that such a drug should be needed and to some would be classed as necessary to rid themselves of their addiction to not just nicotine but all the other chemicals contained in a cigarette.

So how come, with all the advances in technology, medicine, et al, do I, perhaps we, find it such a big deal to stop smoking? The answer is a relatively simple one – we make it difficult or should I say more difficult that it needs to be. Like anything else in life, there is a hard way to do it and there is an easy way and no, I am not advocating Allen Carr so perhaps I should rephrase that last bit and say that there is a better way.

So OK then, what choices do we have? Firstly, we can choose to carry on smoking and no, I am not going to bore you all with the details of health, wealth, second hand smoke and everything else. Let us keep it as simple as we possibly can:-

Choice A – We carry on smoking :mad:and

Choice B – We stop smoking.

Now there is nothing more simple than that, we have just two choices and we, as individuals, have to decide which one is the right one for us – no one else, just US. After all, it is our life and how we choose to live it is no one else’s business but ours. But hang on a minute, it isn’t that simple is it? There are so many factors that we have to consider that can and do affect the choice we make and because we are individuals, these factors will be different for each and every one of us but basically it still does come down to quite a simple decision – we either (A) carry on smoking or (B) we stop.:eek:

Choice A is the ‘cop out’ because it is by far the easiest option. We just carry on as we are smoking our little heads off and hope and pray that one of the nasty, nay let us be perfectly honest, life threatening illnesses, that we are fully aware of, does not strike us. If we go this route, then may I suggest that one tightly rolls a few £10 notes up and then puts just one to your lips and then set fire to it. Makes you think doesn’t it but you may as well do it with your actual proper paper money as at least that doesn’t have the harmful chemicals and addictive nicotine in it!! Got you thinking has it? Would you honestly and truly if you didn’t have a cigarette and couldn’t get one, take to rolling a bank note up and trying to smoke it – somehow I think not but perhaps I am wrong but I doubt it.

Choice B is the one remaining and truth be told only other choice. Do we or don’t we? Should we or shall we? Can we and will we? This list could be endless but if we take this option/choice then what can we achieve? A healthy life for a start and if that isn’t a good enough reason on its own then howse about a chance to live for longer to see our children and their children grow up. I personally think that for those lucky enough to have both children and grandchildren, option B is the only way to go! As someone who has neither, for me it is the thought of what would happen to my dogs should I die too soon! Then there is the extra money that we would have – wouldn’t we all like to have extra cash to spend ‘cos I know I would!

There are so many things that can and will influence our decision – only we can make that decision in the same way that we made the decision to start and carry on smoking. But whichever choice is made, it is most definitely our choice and one that we have to think very long and very hard about.

My week has been, not to put too finer point on it, absolutely awful. I have had three different quit dates and not succeeded on any of them but I still want to stop and perhaps by reading my own ramblings I will get there. Hope so and hope to share my journey with you all and I may even help one or two, as well as myself, along the way which is a truly wonderful thought.

[nsd_user663_57780]

Dear buttons, just keep not to be afraid and you will succeed.