It's now 6 months since I stopped smoking. I wore patches for the first 2 months so I had time to change my habits without missing the nicotine. After that, I stopped using the patches and apart from feeling a bit on edge from time to time, everything went really well. To be honest, my last few years of smoking were completely devoid of pleasure and full of guilt, and I realize now that it was harder to smoke than it was to quit! Let's stop talking about how hard it is to stop smoking - all that does is scare smokers and put them off trying to quit. Personally, I stopped smoking without any great effort, without gaining more than 4 pounds, and without making myself into a martyr. The desire to smoke is like a beast in your belly that demands feeding It is not really you it got introduced into you and can leave again. The sooner you stop feeding it, the sooner it disappears. Cutting down on cigarettes just keeps the beast alive. I would like my personal experience to reassure smokers who want to quit that it is not so difficult. Since I stopped smoking, I enjoy my life a lot more. I no longer have to live with the guilt I felt in relation to my children, my health and my wallet. I'm finally at peace with myself. That really makes it worth giving up for good. Forget whatever people have told you, and make quitting work for you. You'll soon see that it's much easier than you thought!

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Twelve years. Twelve years my cigarette and I have been living together. I started smoking at the age of 14. I felt bad about myself as a young teenager, looking for reference points, wanting to defy the law.... in short, all sorts of more or less valid excuses to make me feel less guilty. The result is there. Twelve years of smoking. One cigarette a month.... "I stop when I want", one cigarette a week... "I stop when I want", one cigarette a day... "I stop when I want...but it will be harder...", then two, three, four, "I need more and more", one pack? Why not two? Then come the explosive associations: Coffee-bottle-bottle Alcohol-bottle Night club-bottle End of meal-bottle- bottle ....... And all these little habits that gradually become part of well- defined, well-oiled rituals. Why stop? You feel so good with your cigarette. You even have a favourite brand! your favourite brand without which nothing can happen. The ideal companion for all good evenings, for all hard times, for moments of stress and pleasure. In order not to miss it, it becomes imperative to buy the cartridge, ten packs at a time! Then (because it never ends) small problems insidiously arise. A little cough here, an allergy there, suddenly you stop doing sport, no breath, no legs, headaches, fatigue, a whole bunch of little things that are not important, often blamed on a little temporary fatigue, hay fever (a great classic in spring). In passing, we note one or two comments from family and friends: "go brush your teeth, your breath is foul", "you should stop before it's too late", "if you smoked less you would....". But why do we have to be bothered with our beloved cigarette? We're not hurting anyone? And we are perfectly aware of the risks! Yes....., perfectly......, except that the day it falls on you, you measure the true extent of the damage. The little coughs gradually turn into big coughs, then into bloody sputum, then comes the X-ray of the lungs and the prognosis, much more reliable than the lottery: "Sir, you have lung cancer, we have to operate urgently on a lobe" ....operation.... chemo....operation...chemo... "sir, we're sorry you're at the terminal stage, everyone goes down.... to the morgue"..... cries, tears, then nothing more This is my dramatic story. I am 26 years old, my best friend was 27. We started smoking our first cigarettes together. He died four days ago in front of me. It doesn't just happen to old people, it doesn't just happen to others. Think of Frank when you light up that next cigarette, especially you young people.

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