Husband and father Nick Geurts has assembled a list of reasons why he can’t justify smoking any longer.
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With my 33rd birthday fast approaching, I’ve decided that it is about time I quit smoking. For good. I had my first cigarette at the end of my junior year in college driving home from St. Louis to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Until that point, I was a champion of anti-smoking with my friends. I consistently asked if I could “bum a smoke,” then broke them in half in front of their faces.
I was a bit of a health nut up to that point, but, for whatever reason, I started to devolve during my first year in grad school. I had no basketball team to keep me in check and I had become a veritable sloth-eating Jack-in-the-Box at least once a day and exercising infrequently.
After that year, I started treating my body better but haven’t been able to shake smoking since. I tried nicotine gum, e-cigarettes, mint toothpicks, chewing sunflower seeds, chewing gum, meditation, and most recently an anti-smoking drug. This vice has been especially hard on my wife, Kari, as she has been a nurse for years and also a strong proponent of healthy living. Her tactics to get me to quit have ranged from simply talking to me to withholding lovin’ to leaving photos of smoky lungs from the operating room on my bed pillow for me to wake up to.
Even with all of this, the longest I’ve made it is a month before backsliding. So, like the scene from Trainspotting when the main character is preparing to quit heroin, leading up to my birthday, I’ll be stocking up on seeds, toothpicks, gum, and Welbutrin. And my hope is that by divulging this to all of you, I’ll have the added incentive of potential shame to keep me from ever buying a pack or taking a drag again.
So, here are my 33 reasons to quit smoking (for good):
1. Lung cancer
2. Lung disease
3. Heart disease
4. Stroke
5. All the other smoking-related illnesses
6. I want to be able to breathe easier.
7. I want to be able to taste my food.
8. I want to be able to smell things.
9. I don’t want to be coughing constantly.
10. I don’t want to smell like cigarettes.
11. I don’t want my daughters to think of the smell of cigarettes as “Daddy’s smell.”
12. I don’t want my daughters to start smoking because of me.
13. I don’t want Kari to have to deal with the smell.
14. I don’t want Kari to have to take care of me.
15. I don’t want Kari to have to outlive me.
16. I don’t want to live with the feeling of suffocation.
17. I don’t want to pull around an oxygen tank.
18. I want to see the birth of my grandchildren.
19. I want to take my grandchildren on hikes.
20. My grandpa quit.
21. My parents quit.
22. My brother quit.
23. $$$
24. I hate the feeling of cravings.
25. I hate the idea of being dependent on something.
26. I hate that I use taking the garbage out as an excuse to sneak a cigarette.
27. I hate that I intentionally come up with reasons to run some errand so that I can sneak a cigarette.
28. I hate that I say I need to make it a quick errand and that Anna can’t come along so I can sneak a cigarette.
29. I hate that Anna is four-years-old and knows I smoke.
30. I hate there is no logical reason for me to smoke but I still buy a pack.
31. Smoking does not look cool.
32. Smoking looks trashy.
33. Smoking sucks.
So there it is. Wish me luck!
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Nick Geurts is a structural engineer and lives in Denver, CO with his lovely wife Kari and girls Anna and Anzi. He enjoys hiking and camping with the girls, mountain biking, skiing, and teaching a bi-weekly intro to welding class.
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This article originally appeared on Mamalode.com; Credit: Image—Morgan/Flickr
Hi Nick,
Wishing you the best in finally kicking this habit. It definitely sounds like you have the motivation to become a non-smoker. You certainly have the support of the people who have read this or who have tried to quit the habit themselves.
Good luck man, and know that you are giving your family the best gift possible.
Take care,
Tonya
Alan Carr the easy way
Yay Nick! You’re in my prayers. All things are possible to them that believe (Mark 9:23)
Best of luck Nick! My wife and I quit together 2.5 years ago with the help of Champix (Chantix in the US). I had previously tried Wellbutrin along with all the other methods you mentioned. No matter what way works best for you, it’s not an easy battle but one so definitely worth it. Stay on that positive track and you’ll have nothing but benefits!