These days everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health.
Very bad! Yet lots of people still do it.
Lots of people justify their still doing it too - making excuses and doing their best to convince themselves and others that they like it! I know exactly what it's like.
I wasted 20 years of my life puffing on those sticks of tobacco, inhaling all those chemicals into my body and a heavy smoker I was too.
I had 20 years of being a slave to that addiction.
20 years of wasting my money on tobacco, to burn, inhale and damage my body.
20 years of my body not functioning as it should, including my teenage years - one of the most important times for our bodies as there is so much growth, evolution and change happening in both the body and the brain.
As a smoker at the time, I would say with some certainty that there is no way that my body would have been able to develop as it should or otherwise would have, because it was having to deal with the toxic chemicals being pumped around my bloodstream every day from inhaling tobacco smoke and I would say that this would be the case for all teenagers that smoke.
The media and everyone around us tells us that quitting smoking is 'hard'.
It's an addiction that's tougher than heroin to quit, some will tell you.
'The time has to be right'.
I've heard of doctors telling pregnant women not to quit smoking while they're pregnant because it will stress them too much! How bizarre is that? Back when I had my children, there wasn't too much info around about the bad effects of smoking - I think it was just starting to come out really.
I smoked through both of my pregnancies and for that I am now truly, truly sorry.
Sorry to my children for not giving them the absolute best start in life that I could.
How much has my smoking during my pregnancy affected their overall health? We will never know, but I know that it has had a negative impact.
I also smoked all over my kids when they were babies and young children.
It wasn't uncommon then.
My husband and I smoked in the house, and in the car with no thought for how it was affecting our son and our daughter.
When you're a smoker you don't realise how disgusting it is for other people who don't smoke.
As a smoker, you don't realise how much it stinks and how it can make you feel sick and make it hard to breathe.
We were just talking the other day about how unimaginable I now find it that my parents who were non smokers, allowed me to smoke at home as a young teenager - in the house! As is the case with many parents, they were just trying to work out how to handle the fact that I was smoking and I guess they thought if they made it okay then I wouldn't want to smoke any more - unfortunately that didn't work! They eventually (after a few years) put their foot down and banned smoking in the house.
It really amazes me that they put up with it for the years that they did - but it was pretty normal back then - people smoked in their homes and in other peoples homes.
The visitors came and you got out the ashtray and offered them a cup of tea! I can't fathom now that I smoked in the house and my mother was a severe asthmatic at the time.
We used to smoke in the car with my parents in the car - we opened up the window and thought that was okay.
We thought that got rid of the smoke - it doesn't.
We still see smokers smoking in cars with kids in the back.
People smoking inside their homes, but it's not very common these days.
Many smokers try to hide the fact that they're smokers as it becomes more and more socially unacceptable.
Smoking doesn't only affect your lungs, it affects your whole body as the hundreds of chemicals in the cigarette smoke enter your lungs then pass through into your blood stream instead of the health giving oxygen that should be passing across.
These chemicals then get transported around your body, putting more stress on your organs of elimination such as your liver and your kidneys and damaging other organs and tissues that these chemicals come into contact with.
I know that for me, smoking affected much more than my breathing and cardiovascular system.
It caused panic attacks, fear and anxiety as obviously the chemicals entering my body affected my brain, nervous system and adrenal system plus more.
This was made obvious to me as I quit smoking for 7 years and these problems pretty much went away until I (stupidly) started again, ending up a smoker again for 4 years before I quit for the second and last time, when the panic attacks etc resolved once again.
The answer to the health risks that come with smoking is to quit - obviously.
Some people use the excuse that they don't want to gain weight - no excuse.
I quit smoking and lost over 40 kgs then gained weight again when I started smoking again! I think it does help to keep weight off some people, but not all and it's still no excuse.
Smoking is an addiction.
I know that after my stopping and starting again.
The temptation never really leaves - for me anyway and many other smokers that I've spoken to, but quitting is easy.
All you have to do is stop putting them in your mouth - simple! Change the way you think about it - you're not giving up anything.
By quitting, you are getting rid of a really bad part of your life.
I remember being amazed when I quit the first time - I kept forgetting to take my purse or handbag with me.
That was because the reason I always remembered before was because I had to have my smokes with me.
Once I wasn't a slave to the smokes any more, I kept forgetting my purse! I remember that I felt free! It was a great feeling.
As a smoker, I was always making sure I had enough smokes and enough money to buy them - that stress was gone.
It was an amazing feeling.
For me also, there was an immediate improvement in my health and that too was amazing.
So it just takes a decision, some commitment to your health.
Set a date, and until that time really focus on the bad things about smoking.
Think about how it affects your life, how it makes you feel, how bad it tastes and look forward to being rid of it forever.
You can do it - it's easy!
Very bad! Yet lots of people still do it.
Lots of people justify their still doing it too - making excuses and doing their best to convince themselves and others that they like it! I know exactly what it's like.
I wasted 20 years of my life puffing on those sticks of tobacco, inhaling all those chemicals into my body and a heavy smoker I was too.
I had 20 years of being a slave to that addiction.
20 years of wasting my money on tobacco, to burn, inhale and damage my body.
20 years of my body not functioning as it should, including my teenage years - one of the most important times for our bodies as there is so much growth, evolution and change happening in both the body and the brain.
As a smoker at the time, I would say with some certainty that there is no way that my body would have been able to develop as it should or otherwise would have, because it was having to deal with the toxic chemicals being pumped around my bloodstream every day from inhaling tobacco smoke and I would say that this would be the case for all teenagers that smoke.
The media and everyone around us tells us that quitting smoking is 'hard'.
It's an addiction that's tougher than heroin to quit, some will tell you.
'The time has to be right'.
I've heard of doctors telling pregnant women not to quit smoking while they're pregnant because it will stress them too much! How bizarre is that? Back when I had my children, there wasn't too much info around about the bad effects of smoking - I think it was just starting to come out really.
I smoked through both of my pregnancies and for that I am now truly, truly sorry.
Sorry to my children for not giving them the absolute best start in life that I could.
How much has my smoking during my pregnancy affected their overall health? We will never know, but I know that it has had a negative impact.
I also smoked all over my kids when they were babies and young children.
It wasn't uncommon then.
My husband and I smoked in the house, and in the car with no thought for how it was affecting our son and our daughter.
When you're a smoker you don't realise how disgusting it is for other people who don't smoke.
As a smoker, you don't realise how much it stinks and how it can make you feel sick and make it hard to breathe.
We were just talking the other day about how unimaginable I now find it that my parents who were non smokers, allowed me to smoke at home as a young teenager - in the house! As is the case with many parents, they were just trying to work out how to handle the fact that I was smoking and I guess they thought if they made it okay then I wouldn't want to smoke any more - unfortunately that didn't work! They eventually (after a few years) put their foot down and banned smoking in the house.
It really amazes me that they put up with it for the years that they did - but it was pretty normal back then - people smoked in their homes and in other peoples homes.
The visitors came and you got out the ashtray and offered them a cup of tea! I can't fathom now that I smoked in the house and my mother was a severe asthmatic at the time.
We used to smoke in the car with my parents in the car - we opened up the window and thought that was okay.
We thought that got rid of the smoke - it doesn't.
We still see smokers smoking in cars with kids in the back.
People smoking inside their homes, but it's not very common these days.
Many smokers try to hide the fact that they're smokers as it becomes more and more socially unacceptable.
Smoking doesn't only affect your lungs, it affects your whole body as the hundreds of chemicals in the cigarette smoke enter your lungs then pass through into your blood stream instead of the health giving oxygen that should be passing across.
These chemicals then get transported around your body, putting more stress on your organs of elimination such as your liver and your kidneys and damaging other organs and tissues that these chemicals come into contact with.
I know that for me, smoking affected much more than my breathing and cardiovascular system.
It caused panic attacks, fear and anxiety as obviously the chemicals entering my body affected my brain, nervous system and adrenal system plus more.
This was made obvious to me as I quit smoking for 7 years and these problems pretty much went away until I (stupidly) started again, ending up a smoker again for 4 years before I quit for the second and last time, when the panic attacks etc resolved once again.
The answer to the health risks that come with smoking is to quit - obviously.
Some people use the excuse that they don't want to gain weight - no excuse.
I quit smoking and lost over 40 kgs then gained weight again when I started smoking again! I think it does help to keep weight off some people, but not all and it's still no excuse.
Smoking is an addiction.
I know that after my stopping and starting again.
The temptation never really leaves - for me anyway and many other smokers that I've spoken to, but quitting is easy.
All you have to do is stop putting them in your mouth - simple! Change the way you think about it - you're not giving up anything.
By quitting, you are getting rid of a really bad part of your life.
I remember being amazed when I quit the first time - I kept forgetting to take my purse or handbag with me.
That was because the reason I always remembered before was because I had to have my smokes with me.
Once I wasn't a slave to the smokes any more, I kept forgetting my purse! I remember that I felt free! It was a great feeling.
As a smoker, I was always making sure I had enough smokes and enough money to buy them - that stress was gone.
It was an amazing feeling.
For me also, there was an immediate improvement in my health and that too was amazing.
So it just takes a decision, some commitment to your health.
Set a date, and until that time really focus on the bad things about smoking.
Think about how it affects your life, how it makes you feel, how bad it tastes and look forward to being rid of it forever.
You can do it - it's easy!