I started smoking when I was in junior high school. It wasn’t peer pressure— it was more of an “I want to grow up faster” type of self-pressure that started the nasty habit that took me more than 36 years to kick.
Although I never smoked more than two packs a week, I was a full-blown addict. The first thing I would do when I walked into a strange environment was to check and see if anyone else in the room was smoking and/or if there were any ashtrays available. If I were out of cigarettes, I would cozy up to just about anyone I thought would let me “bum a smoke.” I swear I would have joined Dracula for a puff or two if he would have been willing to share.
Smoking was a big part of my persona for most of my life, and hiding the habit was also part of who I was. As a teenager, I hid it from my parents and from school personnel. As an adult, I did my best to hide it from two of my husbands. I went through all the motions of using perfume, eating mints or any other ruse I could think of to literally throw folks off my “scent.” I hid around corners, smoked in bathrooms and my car, and for years spent time intruding on neighbors who smoked so I could puff away from Hubby’s disapproving eyes.
After years of being a smoker, I knew it was bad for my health, but I just couldn’t find a good enough motivator to help me fight against those nicotine lures— that is, until I developed periodontal disease.
While I was going through some very intense and expensive laser treatments, the dentist informed me that I would be certain to have to repeat the process again and again if I did not stop smoking. Furthermore, he said that with my family history of longevity, I would probably live to be 100— but would certainly lose all my teeth. Ah! There was my motivating trifecta: pain, money and vanity.
A few weeks later, I was on my way to being a non-smoker.
Through the help of an amazing support group, the use of nicotine patches, a lot of prayer and loving friends and family, I stand before you today as a decade-long non-smoker.
Congratulations to me. I am proud to be 10 years “smober.”
