When different governments around the world have attempted to convince people to stop smoking, they always seem to go down the health route. It could be by showing a man who is dying of cancer for example. I was very much aware of all of the negative health effects of smoking but this did not deter me from starting. I suppose this was due to my belief that any effects were unlikely to start affecting me for at least 30 years. I used to say to myself that there is a good chance that I will not be alive in thirty years time and that I should live for today. I have to admit that I would also attempt to convince myself that there was a good chance that a cure for cancer may have been found within the next few decades. When I decided to stop smoking, health was one of the reasons why I wanted to quit, but it was by no means the main reason.

The main reason was without doubt financial. The price of a packet of twenty cigarettes in the UK has rocketed upwards over the last few years. In truth I am able to afford to pay for the “fags” but I would just much rather save the money to spend on things such as foreign holidays or to buy a car. I have worked out that I save over a thousand pounds a year by no longer smoking. This for me is a lot of money and was what I always thought of when the demons in my head were trying to convince me to smoke just one last cigarette.

I started to smoke due to the fact that it would help me to relax; I had a stuttering speech impediment until the age of 22 and would stutter more when I was under pressure. I started to work at the age of 16 in the DVD authoring sector and in reality being a smoker gave me one of my own pleasures of the time.

There were of course other reasons why I wanted to stop smoking. These include the amount they make your clothes smell, the amount they make your house smell, the affect they have on your teeth, the fact that most women find smoking a turn off and the sheer dependency that one can get from cigarettes. For example I feel a bit stressed, I must therefore have a cigarette. I am drinking coffee, therefore I must smoke a cigarette.

It has to be said that it is far from easy to quit smoking but let’s face it the rewards are massive therefore it has to be worth all of the effort.

John Frain works for a fostering agency in England and writes articles about a large array of topics.

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