Good Essay About Trying To Quit Smoking

Any habit that starts controlling you is definitively not good. A habit that starts to take a toll on your life, hinders your decisions, affects your relationships and makes you feel guilty needs to be cut out from your life as soon as possible. I also have such a habit that needed to be tended to immediately. I smoke.
My first cigarette was unplanned at the end of a party at a friend’s home. It was an impulsive decision made under peer pressure. I come from a family where no one has smoked for two generations. I had been educated well about the harsh effects of cigarette smoking. That day I thought that lets try it for fun for once. I would not do it again. However, one led to two, and then before I knew it, I needed it. My body craved for it.
Since entering university, I had this guilt inside me. I know how important these final years of education are for my career and life. My smoking habit was coming in the way of my friends as well as studies. Something had to be done. So therefore, for the sake of my wellness, I chose to try to quit smoking.
Accepting that I had an addiction was very difficult. I needed to inform my friends about my decision, as I needed them to be my support group. I sat down and listed out the reasons that I smoked. Why I thought I needed to smoke. This way I reasoned that I would channel my needs into some other activity. I needed extreme will power, determination and a goal. My enthusiasm to see the look on the faces of my parents at the time of my graduation has made me want to quit this habit.
I did not try out the several products offered in the market that help in quitting to smoke. I had read somewhere that trying to quit an addiction with another was not the answer. I also did not go cold turkey as this method has higher percentages of failure as compared to quitting slow and steady.
The first week was the hardest. I set small goals for myself. I promised myself that I would not smoke until lunch. My support group would help me distract my thoughts more productively in studies or sports. We would take walks in the park and wander aimlessly until the feeling passed away. This way I increased the durations slowly. My first three days without nicotine were agonizing. However, once I got past the initial three days, the pain was bearable. The urge was controllable. I could now divert my mind much easily towards something constructive.
For the past few years, I had thought that I needed cigarettes to go through the day. It turns out that was not the case. Even though I have not smoked for some time, still I do not consider myself as a non-smoker. I still feel as if I am ‘trying’ to quit smoking. I have not smoked a cigarette in a few months now but still I feel the urge to do so. I see people smoking everywhere and the impulse comes right back. Every day is a struggle and every day I vow to win again. I am proud of myself and of my friends who are still helping me out in achieving the hardest goal of my life.