Celebrating Thirty Years Free of Cigarettes

 

Photo: Pascal Meier

Both my parents smoked, they were of a generation where cigarettes and smoky rooms were very common. 

I was about 10 when I took my first puff off a cigarette, after a boy in our elementary school dared me, as we walked home together. I thought it was horrible and never touched one again for many years. 

But then, as a teenager, going to jazz clubs in the ancient cellars of Old Town, Stockholm, where everyone smoked, or so it seemed, I took up smoking too. 

I was about 17 when my parents found out. I remember them both being upset. 

Years went by, I smoked, then I didn't want to smoke any longer, but found myself unable to stop. 

That's how I learned about addiction. 

I was able to cut back. Somewhere in there, the university where I worked no longer allowed smoking indoors, so that helped a lot. 

But I still couldn't completely stop. I kept trying and failing, trying and failing, to the extent that when I had no cigarettes at home, I could wake up in the middle of the night, needing to have one. I would get so desperate that I would get up and out in the night and drive to the nearest Seven/Eleven store that was open.

Then, finally, help arrived with the Nicorette Gum. 

With the help of this gum, I stopped smoking for good on December 21, 1993. 

I was 53 years old.

I believe I kept chewing the gum for about three years after I stopped smoking, but I never smoked again. 

Sadly my dad died as a result of his heavy smoking habit. He was 66 years old when he passed away from lung cancer. 

My mom continued to smoke, but never as much as my dad did and she survived him by about 15 years. 

Today, it has been thirty years since I smoked my last cigarette. I know the date so well because I wrote it down and made a commitment in writing that day. For my life and my health.

Strangely, I've never thought of or wanted to smoke a cigarette again. 

So a huge thank you to the Nicorette gum developers.