Five (Radical)Ways to Say Goodbye to Smoking

We know all too well that at one time or another, that familiar hooded man always carrying a long-handled scythe would eventually find his way to our door. However, letting him proceed with his own schedule and willingly inviting him over to dinner are two very different things. If we persist with our smoking habit, we have already given him the invitation. So if we value our life and the people we care so deeply for, then don't you think it's about time we say goodbye and split up with our habit for good? We know it is never easy. A cigarette is a paramour to us. To quit smoking cigarettes would mean losing a valuable piece of ourselves. Nevertheless, it is what needs to be done. It should not be too hard when you think about it, really. Below are a five radical suggestions that might just work.

• Use the power of imagination. Before we pop that cigarette into our mouth, pause. Then, let us close our eyes and take a deep breath. Once we decide to open our eyes, we would no longer see that all too familiar slim white stick nestled in between our thumb and forefinger(A cigarette, what else?). In its place, what we see is a mottled piece of dried up excrement, filthy and putrid as can be. How would we react?

• Search the net for a picture of what was once a living smoker's lungs, all blackened and rotten. Produce a print out of the latter as big as we can make it. Now, go to a doctor and ask for an x-ray procedure to be done on our lungs. Get the results and run back home with them. Go to our room and on the wall right at the foot of our bed or on the ceiling right above it, paste the print out alongside the x-ray of our own lungs. This final step is the easiest: upon waking up and before dozing off, look at these for as long as we can without thinking of anything else. The outcome of this would just flow naturally.

• Record our own voice as we say this:”I would never ever smoke again.” Do this for an hour or so. We could also make another record of the terrible effects and data about smoking. Program our player to play these recordings non-stop as we sleep. Leave the rest to our subconscious mind.

• Let us go vegetarian. Instead of popping cigarettes into our mouths we can pop carrot or celery sticks instead. This would do us more good than we could possibly imagine. We do not only stave off the bad habit, but we also improve our overall health.

• Now, this last suggestion is very easy. Before we start smoking, we should mention these two words repeatedly( more than 12 times at least) to ourselves: 'bad breath' and 'cancer'.

These suggestions are humorous takes on the possibilities of putting an end to our deadly smoking habit. As funny, disgusting, or ridiculously ludicrous as they can be; we know that the effects of smoking is never a laughing matter. Just think: precious minutes of our life are at stake with each stick we smoke.


Resource Box: Maricel Modesto is a writer and editor who writes for various health and lifestyle magazines.