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I’m about to do the hardest thing I ever did, and I’m not looking forward to it one bit.

19 years ago, sat in a dingy office with a window that faced out onto a wall, I got extremely stressed out. I was a one man programming department for a construction company and had stuff thrown at me from every which way every day. On top of all that, I worked for the most vindictive, spiteful boss the world has ever known, a remnant of the 50’s who happened to be in the right place at the right time when the company bought its first mainframe computer. He believed the boss should be referred to as sir, and kids like me shouldn’t ever speak to anyone without first being spoken to. He once chastised me in fact for installing Windows 3 on my desktop Unix terminal PC, openly berating me for ‘playing games’ and wasting time looking at something that was obviously never going to catch on (Windows, that is).

So, on this one particularly stressful day, with the weight of the world on my shoulders, I left my office and trudged up the street to the newsagents. Trying to sound as grown up as I could (I was 18), I demanded a pack of John Player Special cigarettes. Numerous bouts of bronchitis, a few cancer scares and a generally awful state of personal fitness later, here I am.

I’ve smoked a pack, sometimes more, a day for the last 19 years. I wince whenever I see photos or videos with me in trying desperately to hide the cigarette from view. I’m genuinely not proud to be a smoker. I hate when Travis puts footage up on Rockstartup of me with a smoldering lump of tobacco stuck in my face or between my fingers.

Well, the lease is up on my house soon and I’m moving. I’m moving to a nicer house, with a higher monthly payment. It makes sense that I use this time then to start preparing. I want to turn over a new leaf. I want to save cash. I want to be healthier and enjoy my new pool (I don’t have a pool at the moment). So I want to stop smoking, badly.

I used to joke that giving up smoking is easy – I’ve done it many times. Truth is, the trick is staying quit. I lead a stressful life and ciggies are my crutch.

So any tips?