A cigarette for me, the same as for most of the smokers, at first was a simple and fast way to get rid of the stress. Every time, something got me out of order, distracted or unpleasantly surprised I just needed to light up a cigarette and in a minute if not all than half of the problems disappeared.
At the point, where a number of cigarettes I smoked a day could fit in the package, I actually didn’t have any problems any more. The situation at work was pretty much ok, and the personal life was going fine but i still was smoking. And this time it was not anymore about the stress reduction. All these reasons were replaced by the simple joy you get from lighting up a cigarette on holidays, at the bar, on a hallway during the dinner at a friends. And these few puffs (well, to be honest, it was round 200 of them a day if we say that it takes 10 puffs to smoke a cigarette and I had round 20 a day) was just a joy. Well, was, until one day I noticed that to get up these stairs leading to my flat on the 5th floor became pretty much impossible, not talking about running to the bus or trying to catch a nephew in the garden.
And one day I simply stopped. Quit for good. What I realized was that smoking is nothing more than a release of energy you have. It is a physical action which gets out the various energy you have inside. Some people smoke, others drink, some take drugs, but the others go running, paint or take a walk more often. So why this particular action, smoking, is the one you have to choose for your energy release?
