Too Late to Quit Smoking ?

Is it too late to quit smoking ? Read this story and find out.

I spoke with the friend of a friend the other day. She was 67 and had smoked for over 50 years! She told me she was facing a health crisis. She wanted to quit smoking, but didn’t know how. I talked to her about various method for quitting.

While I was talking with her, I noticed that she was not really listening. She was looking away, far away at something.

“Did you get the name of that website,” I asked? I was referring to this website you’re looking at right now.

“Well…”, she stammered. Then she admitted she wasn’t listening.

“Why not”? I asked.

“Because I guess it’s too late to quit smoking,” she said. It was more of a question than an answer.

“Of course not!” I said. Then I explained to her why not.

I told her about my father who smoked for almost 30 years, then quit. He lived another 30 years! I also told her about my mother who did not quit, and died when she was 56. For my dad it wasn't too late to quit smoking.

Let me tell you what I told her, in case you too are thinking it’s too late to quit smoking.

Your body is completely amazing!

In only hours after you quit smoking your body starts to heal.

Yeah, sure, you have withdrawal symptoms and feel awful. (That’s your body’s way of dealing with it’s addiction.) Don’t confuse that awful feeling with lack of health. Believe me, your body starts to heal itself almost from the moment you quit.

Heal from what!

Did you know you exhale only about 10% of the smoke you inhaled from your cigarette?

What do you think happened to the other 90%? Right, it stayed inside your body--in your lungs, for instance. Those 4,000 or so chemicals that cigarette smoke is made of (over 40 of them cause cancer) stay in your body. They remain in your lungs or move to various organs and wreck havoc.

But when you quit, your miraculous body starts the process of detoxifying itself. Withdrawal symptoms are just a symptom of your brain starting to regain control of itself.

(Note: I’m not trying to make light of withdrawal symptoms. I know they are horrible sometimes. I’m just trying to put them in perspective.)

Within hours the amount of carbon monoxide in your lungs starts to return to normal.

Within days, your blood pressure starts to regulate itself, and you start to regain your wind.

Within weeks and months, your chances of getting cancer and heart disease start to diminish.

Believe me, it’s never too late to quit smoking!

What about my friend? I hope she heard me! I’m not sure she did. If you are or have been a smoker, you know what I mean. You say to yourself: “I like smoking,” “I can quit when I want to”, or any number of other misleading statements.

You know what this is! It’s your addiction talking…not you.

So, I’m afraid my new friend might not have heard me. At least at that moment. I know I planted a little mustard seed of hope in her mind, though. I hope that mustard seed grows and she realizes she can quit.

But as for you…

It’s not too late to quit smoking. It’s virtually never too late.

Quitting will give you more life, and what’s more, it will give you better life.

Few of us know when we’re going to die. My friend probably looks at me and figures I’ve got a lot longer here than she does. How does she know? I could get in the car tomorrow and get killed on the interstate. (God forbid! :) )

My point is we just don’t know, but mathematically speaking you’ll have a lot more time if you quit. Now, all you need to do is figure out how.

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