Don't smoke : go outside and walk, ride a bicycle

It's summer, it’s a lovely sunny warm day, and l am riding with my bicycle in the Pine woods. 

Not the famous Pinewood studios near London, where most of the James Bond movies, the Dinotopia mini-series... have been filmed.

No..., I am cycling by the Mediterranean sea, and I am happy because I haven't had a cigarette in nine years.

Quitting smoking, for me, has been a rollercoaster of emotions over the years. And it also made me waste quite a bit of money. First in cigarettes…, then in all kinds of diets and technics...that didn’t work for me.

After having given up smoking twice previously: 20 years ago for 2 years, and then 16 years ago for 3 years (when my son was born). 

This time, in 2015, I really had to succeed quitting smoking definitively…

It happened all of sudden a Sunday morning in July 2015. 

I was sitting on a bench, smoking a cigarette, looking at the sky, at the trees, the birds, the water, the joggers, the couples enjoying a nice morning walk. 

It was a very quiet and relaxing morning. 

Suddenly I heard a man coughing very badly. I thought to myself why on earth smoking causes such pain and destruction ?

That morning I told myself that that was it. It was my last day as a smoker.

No more inhaling toxic gases.

I deserved better than being dependent on sucking a tiny tube of rolled paper filled with dried herbs and chemicals. That day I smoked my last cigarette. And so far, in fall 2024, it has worked out. I haven't had one cigarette since then.

While cycling by the sea, it occured to me to write down my journey to freedom from smoking thanks to a bicycle and swimming.

It made sense to me, to start the beginning of the story of my journey from the town of "Salou” because “Salud" in Spanish means "Health". 

And because the town is located by the sea and the mountains.

When you have (or had...) a “destructive addiction habit" like smoking cigarettes it is very very difficult to get rid of it. The "addiction” is a parasite to your life. It forbids you to live fully, freely and happily. Bit by bit, that parasite takes increasingly more space in your mind, in your life…

I realised that when I was walking near water, in nature I rarely smoked. Therefore I started to spend more time outside by the sea whenever I could. Whenever in town if I wanted  to smoke I went swimming, cycling. I did yoga. It helped me forgetting about the nicotine cravings. 

Getting on a bicycle, looking at the nature around you makes you forget about holding a cigarette in your hand and bringing it to your mouth.

I thought that it would demand a lot of courage to forget about this ridiculous tiny piece of toxic rolled paper.

I was under the impression that I would be making a big sacrifice by not smoking anymore. 

But do we really need to be brave to realize that what we are swallowing are toxic gases ? 

Do we need to be brave to realize that what we are inhaling is a burnt rolled piece of paper filled with dried herbs and chemicals inside ? NO.

Whenever I fancied a cigarette, I thought  about smoking a dirty roll of toilet paper full of excrements. 

Because that's exactly what smokers do. 

We smoke “s…”.

I knew that the first 3 days were going to be difficult, because the nicotine leaves the body. 

Been there, done it before.

During those 3 days I had internal mental “fights” going on in my head. My brain was torn between the thoughts of wanting to smoke again and the wish of staying away from lighting another cigarette. 

It felt like a dance between good and evil, between life and death.

I had to stay disciplined and focused,

this meant changing my habits, my “daily routine”. 

No more coffee with a cigarette in the morning, instead I swapped it for green tea (a good habit I took while living in London).No drinks after work and no more “cocktail parties or apéritifs” for me for a while. Instead I went cycling, swimming or walking.I knew that to succeed I had to stay away from the cigarette smell, and from any places that could awaken the temptation of smoking again.

Some people get it right the first time. For others, like me..., it takes more time and various attempts.

As mentioned earlier, I had felt twice. Always at parties…, while being a bit "merry tipsy". 

Alcohol fumes and alcohol liquid intake certainly reduced my vigilance towards the tiny toxic paper roll.

Both times, the next day, after “falling”, I felt sad and disappointed, because I smoked again.

I felt crashed, crushed… 

I felt as if I’d been riding on a roundabout forever : “I quit, I don’t quit, I quit, I don’t quit…”

I felt that I had failed myself.

I hated myself for letting the nicotine governing my body, my life. I felt like a sand castle washed away by the sea. 

My self esteem and confidence were diminished. But I was on a mission to become healthy again. On a mission to propel myself to a happier and healthier lifestyle.

What do you do when you fall ? You pick yourself up, and you start all over again…

I restarted to go swimming and cycling every day, did yoga, meditated.

I anchored in my mind that soon I would be a non smoker, and living an healthier lifestyle

Every morning when I woke up I told myself : “Keep on climbing, Magda, crush that cigarette trigger..." 

The road to “recovery” is not black and white. 

It is filled with shadows, it is filled with ups and downs…

The most important thing is to keep the motion while finding a smart way to deal with the cravings and any bad emotion.

When I gave up smoking, I kept on exercising. I felt healthier, no more dry cough sometimes.

I have always loved the mountain, the sea, the trees. I love good healthy food and natural products. But when we smoke we destroy all that. 

As a little girl I was taught that nature has to be respected, we need trees, flowers...to keeps us healthy. So why smoking ? 

For the ones who never smoked or never had a “little destructive habit” giving it up might not feel like a big deal to them.

But on my end, I am very happy to have taken that bridge to an healthier life. 

I’d like to think that I moved up on my line of life. Every day I do my best to remain on that line, because I don’t want to fall again.

As I don’t want to get rusty I know that I have to keep on focusing on the good habits.

This time it feels like I have succeeded my "nicotine detoxing".

During this journey many loved ones, and colleagues helped me to win this major milestone. They believed in me, they cared, they were patient. So thank you all. 

I am not enslaved by the nicotine anymore. I am in charge. I am happier, I am healthier and my body feels likes a stronger temple/castle.

What a rollercoaster of a journey !

Bye bye my devils.…