Hello,
Some days it takes all of one’s strength and wisdom to remain silent. Today was one of those days for me.
As I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office I overheard a conversation a couple of seats down from me. A lady, 52 years of age, by her own declaration, not mine, was chatting with the lady next to her and she mentioned that since she had reached the ripe old age of 50 she seemed to be falling apart. The two ladies exchanged complaints about their health situations and the ridiculous amount of time that they had to wait to be called in for their doctor’s visit.
The 52 year young lady stood up and told the other lady that she was going outside to have a cigarette. A moment of awkward silence occurred and then she declared that her doctor had told her quit smoking and her boy friend had told her to quit smoking but that nobody was going to tell her what to do. And then she repeated the phrase, “Nobody tells me what to do”.
As she headed out the door I had the strongest urge to say, “Mr. Nicotine tells you what to do and you do it”. But evidently age has given me a little wisdom because I know that such a statement just opens the door to a fruitless conversation or possibly even an argument about one’s rights and /or minding one’s own business.
I understand this lady’s problem even if she does not yet know that she has a problem.
I know that the voice of nicotine addiction dictates that she gives in to whatever it demands. I know that she must get up and leave that office and go outside to satisfy that graving for more nicotine. Nicotine has no regard for her good health and general welfare. Nicotine demands that she feed her addiction with more nicotine. I know this because I have been where she is now and I have made that same statement.
Only after I had quit smoking, cold turkey, for a number of years did I realize what I had allowed nicotine to do to me and my loved ones. Only after I had been nicotine free for more than a decade did I realize that an addiction had controlled me and my actions for years before I finally quit smoking. At this point you might say that I am a slow learner and you may be right but I did finally learn that nicotine addiction had control over me and no one could tell me or explain that fact to me until I was ready to learn and accept the truth about nicotine addiction.
Some folks spend their entire life smoking, suffering from tobacco related diseases, and even die without realizing that they were addicted to nicotine. It is a sad fact that unless we know what is happening in our lives and are willing to educate ourselves about the true reason that we smoke we are destined to live with nicotine addiction until we take our last breath.
The point I am trying to make here is, if you are a smoker do not make the claim that, “Nobody tells me what to do”, because the nicotine addiction does rule your life.
