How I quit Smoking The Second Time

So the first time had failed and you can read about that at How I Quit Smoking The First Time  but I gave it another try.

By this time we all knew about the dangers of a smoking addiction and people were quitting all over the place. I was not one of them!

But I did quit because of a health scare.

I was fit as a fiddle (I've never known why a fiddle was any more fit than a trombone), running every day and running in marathons a few times a year and I had a heart scare.

"Lose more weight, improve your diet, stop eating salt, and STOP SMOKING" said my doctor, "and take an angina tablet before running".

This seemed to be getting serious so I decided that I had better give it my best shot. Life was just too good to end it sooner than I needed..

I went through all the stages of the first time I had quit, but my running definitely helped. Of course, for months I kept coughing up brown horrible looking stuff but I am convinced that exercise helped me enormously. There were still no aids such as patches etc and I was still doing it tough.

The six month period was approaching and one would have thought I had had sufficient warning the first time but...

We were at the golf club after a competition round in which we had done so well we were waiting around to see if we had won a trophy. I normally avoided the club bar because it held too many temptations.

As they served us our drinks the whole party lit up cigarettes. "Gee I'd love a cigarette," I said. Take one of mine said my partner Ralph Argue and I did.

"I'll need a light" I said and Ralph handed me his lighter. I had the lighter already lit and said "This is my first cigarette in six months". and CHOONG! Ralph snatched the cigarette straight out of my mouth and said, "You're not having one of mine".

That's all I needed. It has been 30 years since I smoked a cigarette.

I've lost touch with Ralph Argue over the years and he will probably not even remember the incident but it was the best thing anyone has ever done for me. I think it saved my life.

And the moral is that even though you are a tough so-and-so who can kick anyone's butt you need help fighting a drug addiction. Don't be foolish grab all the help you can get.