Another Reason To Quit Smoking

A friend posted a comment on my blog Kicking The Habit. The person is none other than Hantu Laut who by his own admission had been a smoker for 20 years since his school days. His story s so compelling that I feel it deserved to be posted as a blog itself.
For those who aspire to be a smoker, please learn this lesson from him. Ask yourself why start a habit that you will find it difficult to stop later when you finally come to your senses? Learn from those who had experienced it.
I present to you all what Hantu Laut wrote.

Zawi,
Ha!,smoking,glad you brought up the subject and glad to share my experience here.I took up smoking when I was still in school, if I remember well, I must have been in Form V then.A willing victim of peer pressure.As a student I didn't have much money and used my meagre pocket money to buy fag by the stick which cost 5 cents those days.You can buy them by the stick at any Hainanese coffeeshops.With 20 cents pocket money a day, I could ill-afford to smoke every day.I remember starting with mentholated cigarettes such as Matterhorn, Consulates and occassionlly the heavier stuff like Lucky Strikes, Camels and the slightly milder Abdullah 37, Players,Capstan,etc. Any brand I can get my hand on.I only smoke on weekends with the 'Unholy Boys' as we were called by the more disciplined boys of our schools.We were never caught by our teachers as we made it a point not to smoke in school.Looking on hindsight, I think we have behaved appallingly.Not a good example to show to the younger generation, but than we were young then.By the time I went to work in the civil service, I had become a full-blown smoker, burning a pack of 20s a day of my favourite brand, State Express 555.After three years in the civil service, I left and joined the family business.As my family business grew,I have to travel extensively overseas and, more often than not, to some god's forsaken place.By then, I have graduated to 3 packs of 20s a day of my favourite brand, Dunhill.My wife, a non-smoker once told me, I have a prolonged death wish, a situation she was not at all happy about, which she told was not only killing myself but killing her and the children too, the passive smokers.I really don't understand what the fuss she was making over such trivia, I was still living in a state of denial that smoking was bad for your health.Smoking to me was like having perpetual orgasm, I don't care whether non-smokers felt uncomfortable, I don't care the harm it could bring to me or my family and I really don't give a damn at all.Sometimes, faith or divine intervention, if I may call it that, can, without rhyme or reason,open up our minds to reasons in the strangest of way.I was in Algers, Algeria once on business.One day I took the lift from the ground floor up to my room on the 5th floor,on the way up, the lift stopped at the 1st floor and four Algerian Arabs entered and to my utter disbelieve, all four were smoking and continue smoking in the confined space of the lift.I have never felt so sick in my life from inhaling the second-hand smoke from the four smokers. I don't smoke in lifts or places where smoking is not allowed.It suddently struck me how my wife and my children had suffered all these years from my intolerance and unreasonableness.When I got to my room, I called room service for some food and when the waiter arrived with the food, I gave him the carton of Dunhill, still with 8 packs inside, and told him to keep it for himself.He couldn't believe his good fortune.I promise not ever to smoke again.Unfortunately,three months later I broke my promise and pick up the habit again when I was caught in a long flight delay at Narita Airport.Although, I always armed myself with books on most of my journey to take away boredom of long flights and waiting at airports, I must admit smoking does help to soothe the mind in time of unavoidable boredom.Nicotine can be as addictive as any other drugs.A year later, on my 25th wedding anniversary,I promised my wife, whatever it is, I will, for the last time give up smoking for the rest of my life.I took a cold turkey and suffered for many weeks and maybe months from withdrawal symptoms.It is almost 15 years now and I have lost the urge completely.I have lost my annoying smoker's cough, the air in my house is clean and no smell of stale tobacco.Although, I still have many smoker friends, they are more reasonable, they don't smoke in air-cond rooms, most of the time they go outside the house to smoke.The only regret I have is, one of my two daughters had picked up my bad habit. I have been trying to get her to give up but have not been successful.Being an adult I have to leave it to her to make that decision.Zawi,my apology, for I must have bored you with this rather long story.I have nothing against smokers, but being an ex-addict, my advice, is give up while you still can.
I still remember The Sate Express ciggarette box, the picture of a cool handsome man in the uniform of a pilot smiling sweetly with a ciggarette between his finger. How not to be enticed into smoking?
It is still not too late to stop smoking. Stop the habit before it is already too late. If you are not yet a smoker, dont ever try. It is really not worth it.
I have found some write up about the effects of smoking. Just read through how it may affect you if you were to smoke.
Click on this topic below

SMOKING: WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS?