Araz Gholami

Six months after my decision to quit smoking, my friend Omid believes that if I were in a similar situation in Turkey, I would definitely start again. But when I put myself in that scenario in my mind and compare it to the difficult situations I’ve faced so far, I don’t see it that way.

I don’t look at it as something missing that should be there and isn’t, something unbearable in certain situations. I see it as something that came and went. It’s not necessary now. If something is frustrating, feel frustrated; if it’s upsetting, feel upset. There’s no need to erase these feelings with anything.

The issue of weight gain turned out to be much more serious than I thought. The world that opens up after quitting is almost entirely connected to eating, and eating leads to nothing but weight gain. Smoking on the Laleh Park balcony turns into eating Iskander kebab in its food court. Fruits, condiments, and similar items all contribute to weight gain, and without a serious exercise plan, they become the next challenge.

People who, upon realizing you’ve quit, respond with the usual line, “You can’t quit; it can only be abandoned,” are always around. They make you spend some time wrestling with the urge to “slap it away,” which thankfully doesn’t have irreversible consequences.

The next feeling I experienced was during travel. My previous experience goes back to times when my smoking was limited to trips—once a week or every two weeks on one-day tours with colleagues, where smoking was one of the pleasures of the trip. During a recent trip, I felt tempted to smoke just for the nostalgia of those days, but two thoughts stopped me. First, I knew that one day of smoking would definitely trigger a restart. Second, I needed to understand that the world is full of people who enjoy travel without smoking, and I can be like them and like my past self. Similarly, the world is full of people who failed, and I don’t want to be like them. That’s how, after a few months, even the last remaining urge disappeared, and today marks the sixth month of healthy living—like the past, and forever.

My next update on this decision will be in three months unless a new challenge arises that I want to share. Meanwhile, my next effort is to avoid replacing habits. To quit the habit of “smoke when you go out,” I’ve replaced it with “eat something when you go out.” Moving forward, I will try not to buy or eat anything when leaving the house for any reason. In my opinion, this isn’t any easier than the difficulty of quitting smoking itself.

Related:

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