Stop Smoking NOW!
by James S. Vuocolo

    I have never been to the African continent. However, I’m told that lions
there have a unique way of capturing animals that are naturally faster than they are. When spying a herd of the gazelles, or the like, the older lions (whose teeth are poor and whose claws are dull) hide in the tall grass and wait; while the younger lions run after their prey, steering them toward the tall grass where the older lions wait. As their prey nears the tall grass, the older liens rise up on their hind legs – baring their teeth and brandishing their front claws – and with a mighty "ROAR!!!" scare the entire herd into reversing course – right into the much sharper jaws and claws of the younger lions, who proceed to tear them apart! If only they would have pushed ahead, like the marathon runner who hits "a wall of pain" at a certain point in the race yet goes on running toward a successful completion – they would pass right through the older lions in the tall grass, and make it to safety. They would naturally outrun their slower predators, and they would be free. The smoking habit is a lot like that! Let me tell you
how …

    Like so many others, I began smoking cigarettes as a young teenager. It
was a "cool" thing to do at that time, and made us feel "grown-up". At the time, cigarette ads were still prevalent in television and radio commercials, and in magazine ads; and no one ever told us how bad smoking was for our health, except for the occasional admonition from the football or wrestling coach along the way, and, of course, our parents (many of whom were smokers!). Over 20 years later, I found myself to be a three-pack-per-day person. My father had experienced lung cancer, and at age 33 his right lung was removed. He died 11 years later of the coronary brought on by the recurrent cancer in his system; and he was still smoking until his dying day at age 44. My mother has continually been on medical oxygen for the past 17 years. She suffers from emphysema and angina. If anyone was well acquainted with the adverse long-term health effects of the smoking habit, it was me. Yet my own addiction continued.

    Smoking is an insidious habit. As someone who has visited a number of alcoholics anonymous meetings throughout the years in smoke filled rooms,
I can tell you which addiction I think is more difficult for people to end – smoking. Long before "the patch", I attempted to quit smoking on numerous occasions. I purchased an expensive computerized gadget designed to decrease my smoking over time. I went "cold turkey" many different times – only to begin smoking again within a 24 to 48 hour period. I purchased special filters and holders, designed to cut back on nicotine consumption. I even obtained a prescription for nicotine gum. Nothing worked. My guilt and my smoking both continued. I felt ashamed, demoralized, and a failure, despite the many successes I had experienced in many other areas of life.

    Like many, if not most, long-time smokers, I told myself the reason I couldn’t quit was because "I enjoy smoking". But nothing could be further from the truth. I had developed a terrible cough, my clothing and my car smelled of smoke, and the entire society was slowly but steadily turning against me and millions of other gilt-ridden addicts. At the time, my son would come home from preschool, see me smoking, and say, "Just say no to drugs, Daddy." I knew he had me. Sure, I "enjoy" this!

    Long ago, a wise teacher said, "… You will know the truth, and the truth
shall set you free." (John 8:32) The truth was, "I did NOT enjoy smoking!" What I enjoyed was not experiencing the pain of withdrawal which occurred whenever I chose not to smoke for a time. Like most normal people, I had conditioned myself to avoid pain, and believed all pain to be "bad". Yet I had mistaken this reality as being a personal enjoyment of smoking itself, when, in truth, it was not. It was merely the avoidance of withdrawal symptoms. So then, each time I attempted to quit, like a herd of wild prey heading toward what I thought would be the tall grass of disaster, I would hastily retreat from the pain of withdrawal into the much more insidious jaws and claws of continuing the smoking habit. This was the answer for me. Perhaps it will be for you, as well.    

    Like the speedy gazelles of the African plains and the marathon runner who speaks of "hitting the wall of pain" at a certain point of the race, I finally learned that the way past the pain was not to avoid it – but to embrace it. Indeed, to
"run toward and through the roar", and not away from it! For the smoker, this was and is the way to safety, the way to outrun the health threat of disaster; and this is what freed me from my nicotine addiction some ten years ago. I trust it will be a lesson of equal value to you, or someone you love. [END]

Ó 1999 by James S. Vuocolo. All rights reserved.
Dr. James S. Vuocolo is a professional life-coach, pastor and teacher.
You may visit his web site at: http://www.soulbusiness.com , or call
him directly at (909) 794-2136.