Quit smoking

Cigarettes are an addiction to nicotine.  While the nicotine won't kill you, the other 7,000 chemicals in commercial tobacco will.

But more importantly, not only will those chemicals eventually kill you, they will make your life hell until you eventually die.

And if you live in Australia like me, smoking will take all your available cash (and them some more) to keep the addiction rolling.

I've talked to a lot of smokers, and I have a lot of friends who smoke too.  Most of them acknowledge that one day their addiction will probably kill them.  What they don't realise though is that they will most likely live in discomfort and pain for possibly decades before they eventually die.  

Death by smoking can be torture, for the smoker and their family.  

Take throat cancer for example.  You can have your voice-box and lymph nodes removed assuming the cancer is detected in time, but imagine not being able to talk without the assistance of a machine, having to breath through a hole in your neck, never being able to swim (you'd drown with water rushing down your throat), and loosing your smell and taste.  If you elect to undergo radiation therapy instead, you can enjoy your remaining life with mouth ulcers, bleeding gums and most or all of your teeth falling out, difficulty swallowing, and the chances that the therapy won't work and you have to resort to radical surgery anyway.

Smokers don't like to think about these things because they are the nasty realities of smoking.  It's much more comfortable to think they'll just drop dead some day, which could happen too.

Personally I don't particularly like the idea of a premature death.  Lets try not to die too soon, ok?

Most smokers will admit they don't really want to smoke, but the've tried quitting but can't do it.  See that's why its called "addiction".  You've got to break that addiction, and this is the first step.  If you can't accomplish this, don't bother reading further than this post.  You're wasting your time.

I'm not here to offer professional advice on how to quit smoking.  There are a multitude of commercial products, medicines and therapies that will help.  Go see your doctor and discover the method that works for you.  Don't stop trying until you are smoke free.  Find the will-power, fight for your life as though someone had a gun pointed to your head.  Every time you smoke you are pulling the trigger a little bit harder with each puff.  One day the gun is going to go off and you're not going to have anyone to blame except yourself.

If you are living with a loved one who smokes, you're going to have to get them to quit.  It's as simple as that.  They are sapping precious funds that could otherwise go into prepping or getting rid of your debt.  They probably won't have the physical stamina to survive a crisis either, and people don't like employing smokers because of the amount of time they waste with their habit.  When they get sick they are going to take all your time and money to look after them and you are going to experience their living hell along with them.

Make an appointment to see your doctor now.  Don't delay this life-changing step.  Do it NOW!

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