Giving it a good quit...

June 15th... Holly quits smoking.

Reasons to continue smoking:

1. Selfishness - I like it. That's right. I enjoy it.

2. Laziness - Continuing to smoke is easier than trying to quit.

Neither of these qualities are appealing to me. I never realized it before, but my reasons to continue smoking are practically motivations to quit.


Whether practical or ridiculous, I've come up with:

Ten Reasons Holly Should Quit Smoking.

1. Health - Obviously health is a major factor in the reason to quit. No one can argue that the future threat of cancer, emphysema, and high blood pressure are all excellent reasons to stop smoking.

2. Poetry and a Sense of Silly Self-righteousness - When I was a child, I used to taunt my cigarette smoking parents with the following poem:

Tobacco is a nasty weed,
It's the devil that sows it's seed,
It soils your pockets, and scents your clothes,
And makes a chimney of your nose.

(Recited from memory. I apologise, I cannot quote the original author.)

I'd tell my parents they smelled funny, wrinkling my un-chimney-like nose as I said it, and remind them in a self-righteous, child-like way, that it was bad for them. They never heeded my words, though mom has tried to quit many times over the last ten years.
I really ought to follow my own advice. Shouldn't I?

3. The Poem Revisited - Now that I am an adult, the children in my life now give me guilt about my smoking. Hm... justice, I think.
My five-year-old god-daughter learned to give me a very stern, motherly look that conveyed complete disapproval, when I lit up a cigarette. (Don't lecture. If a child is present, I smoke in open air, with a distance between us.)
Another friend's child asked me why I smoke. Not an easy question to answer when discussing it with an eight-year-old. I wasn't impressed with the answer I found. After that discussion, the third week in May, I decided that I needed to get serious about quitting.
The guilt! The guilt! Stop looking at me with those innocence filled eyes asking why anyone would do that to themselves... OK already, I'll quit.

4. Financial - Is that really how I want to spend $60 a month? No.
Instead, I'm going to open a savings account for a trip to Australia. At $60 a month, it'll take me two years to get there. All the same, as I see it, that's a much better use for the money.

5. Attractiveness - According to this website, smoking makes me worth $50,000 less than a nonsmoker. In case you'd like to know, I'm currently worth $1,674,030 as a smoker. (What? Don't look at me like that. I know you fill out these stupid surveys too.)
I'd better quit smoking, just in case I'm sold into the slave market tomorrow.

They list the following unsupported claims, as motivation to quit:

• Your appeal to the opposite sex could triple as a non-smoker.
• For every day that you are quit, your immune system improves.
• Quitting smoking can be one of the biggest factors in improving sexual functioning.
• As a non-smoking female, men perceive you as more sexually attractive than when you used to smoke.
• A large body of evidence suggests that the risks of neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease might be twice as high for non-smokers than for smokers.
  

6. Dental Health - Yuck. By far, one of the least attractive aspects of smoking. I remember the days when my teeth were pearly white. I remember when my gums weren't receding. Disgusted yet? Yeah, me too. It's not quite as bad a picture as I paint it, but I can see it getting worse if I don't take the steps to prevent further damage and reverse what I've already done. Not to mention, smoker's breath... ew.

7. "The Smoke Mobile" - I quit smoking in my home a long time ago. I didn't like what it did to the home. Stained walls and funky odors just aren't what I want to live in.
For some reason, that philosophy has never carried over to my car. I find it just as repulsive to ride around in the stink, but lighting up is a reaction to sitting in that seat, driving to my destination. Just another part of the habit, I suppose. I'd like to be able to clean the car, and it stay smelling and looking pretty. I guess I'll just have to quit smoking.

8. Ability to Exercise - I walk an average of 15 miles a week. I'd like to start running a portion of that 15 miles. What I've found when I try to run is that, although my legs would love to do it, my lungs stop me from getting farther than a 1/4th of a mile at a time.

9. Breaking an Addiction - I wouldn't say that I'm a control freak, but I've found a certain uneasiness with the idea that I have no control over this aspect of my life. The cravings prompt my actions, rather than conscious thought. I won't be the first person to break an addiction. Others have broken far worse addictions to far more addictive substances.
Quitting is like a challenge to myself. Acting as a strange proof of mind over body. Do I have a strong mind? I'll prove it to myself, by quitting.

10. Time - One pack a day. Twenty cigarettes. Five minutes minimum to smoke a cigarette. You do the math.
OK. I'll do the math for you. That's a minimum of 1 hour, 40 minutes spent doing something that for all the previous mentioned reasons, I know I really shouldn't do. Think of all that wasted time I've spent over the years.

I could do a lot with nearly two hours a day.
In two hours, I could write 4 extremely long blog posts about quitting smoking.
In two hours, I could walk 6 miles at a leisurely pace.
In two hours, I could improve my efficiency at work, by well, working instead of taking a smoke break.
In two hours, I could cook, from scratch, elaborate meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
In two hours, I could draw a self portrait. (Note that I didn't say it'd be a good self portrait.)
In two hours, I could watch one show on how to cook a "Big Flavor Brunch" on food network, one show on "Walking on Water" from Mythbusters, and an old 1987 episode of "Tales from the Darkside" starring Jerry Orbach.

In two hours, I could...

Help me out here?