Have you ever thought of quitting smoking but was unsure whether you would manage to do it or did not know how to start?
Maybe you can get inspired by an experience of a former heavy smoker whom successfully quit smoking for good.
Recently, a former smoker in Malaysia shares his experience trying to quit smoking for good. Carlos Phang has shared his experience on his Facebook to encourage the other smokers to quit smoking.
Carlos Phang used to be a heavy smoker – smoking around 30 cigarettes everyday for the last 10 years and he encouraged other smokers to do the same.
Ever since he started on his mission to quit smoking 6 months ago, he managed to keep himself away from cigarettes. He never touched or smoke ever since then.
Carlos wrote in his Facebook status, saying that many smokers find it hard to quit smoking and give excuses like stress, addiction, bored or they never really thought of quitting smoking.
He further wrote “But are you sure that smoking can reduce stress or after you finish smoking you won’t be bored anymore? Stop lying to yourself! It’s just a bad habit that you can’t control, because you need to have the willpower to stop and you CAN do it – just decide that you are stopping.”
Carlos added “Okay, so for those of you who have thought about quitting but if you didn’t do anything about it, how can it be possible? I don’t mean to curse anyone but do you really want to wait until the day that the doctor tells you that if you don’t stop you are going to die?”
He agrees that there are many ways one can use to stop smoking but for him, he decided to go all-out.
Instead of gradually reducing the number of cigarettes day by day, he went cold turkey. Not even a single cigarette.
He says that the first three days of his mission were the worst days he ever had. “For the first three days, the mucus kept dripping from my nose, I couldn’t sleep at night and I felt very lethargic at work. Plus, my throat felt like there was a feather that kept tickling it which was super irritating. But believe me, this just means that your body is expelling the toxins and it will get better.”
He also suggests to drink a lot of water when you have strong craving of smoking. Distract yourself for 3 to 5 minutes and do not think about smoking after that and you will find yourself less craving for it.
What is more impressive was he also managed to save RM 4875 (approximately USD$ 1151.53) in those 6 months.
Carlos had estimated the cost of cigarettes that he usually smoke per day which was RM 24 (approximately USD$ 5.67).
He says that he had saved RM 24 into his piggy bank every day for 6 months in which the total of his savings sums up to a price of an iPhone 8 Plus.
Carlos ends his status by showing his supports to those who may have given a thought about quitting smoking. “It is never too late to quit smoking, the most important thing is you need to have the determination to stop.”
