Maybe I just have an odd sense of humor or, maybe it is because I am a long time habitual smoker? But, when I see “Stop Smoking Programs”, I get a mental picture of a street full of people smoking tobacco products and waving banners demanding the end of attempts to introduce programs to stop them from smoking.
As A Smoker, Do I really Want A Program To Stop me Smoking?
On the whole, I enjoy my smoking habit and get satisfaction from it. Quite why this is I am not sure. However, I know it to be a fact.
Deep down however, I will admit that I know smoking to be a somewhat unhealthy activity that can lead to quiet severe problems for both the smoker and those around a smoker when he (or she) is indulging in their habit. I have no real problem with government inspired and enforced Stop Smoking Programs to limit the number of places where I am allowed to smoke. However, I might disagree with those Stop Smoking Programs that restrict where and how I can purchase my smoking supplies although I suppose that I have to agree with the advertising bans which claim to be aimed at stopping the young from taking up the smoking habit.
Freedom Of Choice
It is my choice to be a cigarette smoker and only two things are likely to make me change that choice. The first would be if government made both the sale of and the smoking of tobacco products a 100% illegal activity. However, with the huge revenues raised from tobacco taxes and duties, I cannot see this ever happening.
The other choice changing factor would be if, one day, I decided for myself that I really did not wish to be a smoker any longer. This sounds self evident and I can honestly say that “to stop smoking is easy – I have done it many times”. This, of course comes from that joker inside me and really means that, every time I have decided to give up smoking, I start again shortly afterwards (my longest break from smoking was only about three months).
Motivation
Since I obviously lack the motivation to be firm in any decision to give up a habit which I enjoy, maybe what I need is a motivation to stop program rather than one of those Stop Smoking Programs that one sees advertised so often these days?
