I remember my first cigarette. I was in the woods of the local golf course with three or four other 15-year-olds. The first drag made me feel sick and giddy. But, like an idiot, I stuck with it and pretty soon I was indeed stuck with it – a 25-a-day habit that would, over the following 23 years, cost me thousands of pounds, make me smell revolting, and give me a wheeze that sounded like the massed pipes of the Royal Navy.

The first time I tried to quit smoking was on National No-Smoking Day. By 11 o’clock I was a wreck. By ten past I was smoking. So I trotted out the usual smokers’ excuses: it’s the pressure of my work …I don’t really smoke that many… it’s just something to do with my hands… I couldn’t have a drink or a meal without a cigarette.

At first I was wary of any “cold turkey” how to quit smoking programs. I figured that it was just a mind game, a trick. But reluctantly I started to focus on the choice that comes with every cigarette, eliminating the automatic flipping open of my pack of Rothmans. Did I really want to go on smoking? Wouldn’t I prefer to give up coughing and wheezing? I started to deal with my habit one moment at a time. Logic entered into a subject that had always been dealt with on an emotive basis. I started to feel in control. The first few weeks were tough, but recognizing that feeling uncomfortable was a critical and positive part of the quitting process made all the difference.

I had previously tried to quit smoking for good by cutting down gradually over a period of time. I realise now that I was trying to get rid of the desire – and why I was so unsuccessful! I thought at first that any stopping smoking techniques would also help me get rid of the desire and that because I was still having these feelings I couldn’t be using the program properly.

I’m one of those people whose pain threshold is very low and I’ll do anything to avoid it and protest loudly if I can’t. Among other things, what any good quit smoking program requires is that you accept the pain! This idea had never occurred to me before. For me, it made all the difference when I acknowledged the desire instead of being frightened that I would immediately have a cigarette. In other words, I had a choice.

What helped the most was when I treated the desire – the voice nagging at me to have a cigarette – like a little child who needs attention. All the child needed was not to be ignored but to be given sympathy, love and attention.

Now. some three and a half years later, the choice of whether to smoke or not arises far less frequently, and has become much easier to deal with. I don’t feel smug – just pleased. I’m in control of my life and I’m not smoking – not at the moment.

If you want to know about the quitting smoking health benefits, you probably already know that smoking is detrimental to your health and it is unlikely anyone, anywhere on the planet is unaware of this fact. Even if you wanted to get away from it you couldn’t because the media won’t let you.

If all this effort doesn’t get the message across then it probably never will. As we all know, smoking leads to lung cancer, and it’s not exclusively for those with poor genetics or smokers over the age of 65. It can apply to anyone who lights up regularly; one measly cigarette will taint your lungs for a full month. If one cigarette can do that, just think how much harm a pack of 20 will do to you. It’s no good just ignoring the problem; this is a serious subject with some serious consequences to consider. If you ever wanted to learn how to quit smoking, now is the time to make a start.

Unlike smoking, learning something about the problems it causes isn’t going to hurt you is it? Detection and the prevention of illness and smoking related conditions have never been so good so why not have yourself checked over. There are some medical conditions that once highlighted the individual will take appropriate action but this isn’t generally the case with smoking. Despite all the warnings, it is only when something serious happens to them that some smokers take notice and start taking heed of the warnings. Often it’s having a smoking related respiratory condition that makes them listen when all the articles on lung cancer didn’t.

To continue smoking, albeit through your neck because you’ve had throat cancer, has got to be the ultimate in stupidity for someone who is obviously in denial about how dangerous it is. I know some people find it harder to quit smoking than others but at what point would this person stop. I have seen cigarette packets that say ‘smoking kills’, how much more evidence do you need when it is put on the packet itself by the manufacturers! Just go to the local library or look on the internet because there are thousands of articles on lung cancer to choose from and most will tell you about medical conditions you can expect when you smoke. It is also now widely know that inhaling other peoples smoke can be equally bad for you and why should we when we have chosen not indulge. All too often people have the intention to quit but something disastrous happens and they are forced to, but by then it may be too late to make any difference.