Occasionally, when working with people to help them quit smoking a person will say;
“I can’t wait till the day comes when I can call myself a non-smoker.”
It’s a great thought, and one that I had when I first quit smoking as well.
It’s also a title that is becoming more and more desired because, let’s face it, every day the amount of real estate where a person can light up is disappearing faster than the rainforest.
So, when I hear people make that statement, this is what I always tell them:
The decision of whether you are a smoker or non-smoker resides solely within you. No one will send you a special certificate in the mail after six months or a year to certify that:
“From this day forward, (your name here) shall be hitherto known as a non-smoker!”
This is one title we can give to, or take away from, ourselves. The responsibility is yours and yours alone.
Whether it’s been 20 years or 20 minutes since your last cigarette, if you have made up your mind to quit, you are, at that moment, officially a non-smoker. And you have the absolute right to say you are a non-smoker.
The truth is no one, not us at Breathe – Freedom from Nicotine, not a doctor, boss, government official, spouse or anyone else in your life can make the decision to quit for you, it’s something you do alone for yourself.
From the moment you make the decision to quit though, you have every right to consider yourself, and to call yourself,
an official non-smoker!
by Phil Berbig