A Child Who Almost Become A Smoker

The latest book that I translated was "Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr." Doing this work brought back some memory from my adolescence years.

One day, when I was about 12 years old, someone  gave me a cigarette and said "let's try this together!"

I was scared. Having heard so much from school about how cigarette is one of the addictive drugs that can kill you in the end, I felt like I was in front of something scary. But at the same time, curiousity exists in the mind of every child. This is one chance to try something that no adult would allow you to. So I tried it.

I lit up the cigarette and  sucked a bit of the smoke into my mouth and let it out through my nose. Oh Wow! It did make me feel really good. I guess it must have been a menthol cigarette or something because I felt the smoke was cool and relaxing.

I was very lucky. I refused to take the second cigarette because I was lucky....
Here are the reasons that prevented me from taking more.

- The first cigarette tasted good and I thought "that's why people get addicted to it, I must stop now before it's too late!" I knew that I was one of those weak people who get addicted to things very easily. So I was scared and didn't take another cigarette although I was offerred. Allen Carr said that many people became smokers because their first cigarette tasted very bad and they thought they would never get addicted. In my case, the first cigarette tasted good and it scared the hell out of me.

- I didn't know how to puff the smoke into my lungs. All that I did was just getting it in my mouth and let it out my nose. So nicotine from the first cigarette didn't really get that deep into my body.

-I was lucky that my elementary school has shown this scary movie about cigarette and lung cancer. I remember that the film and slide show were very frightening. It even had background music like a ghost movie and the narrator sounded as if he was telling us a story about an evil monster. It imprinted on the subconsciousness my mind that "cigarette" is "evil" and "scary."

-I was lucky that no one around me put the idea that "cigarette is a cool and chic thing" into my head. I didn't have the motivation to smoke other than a bit of curiosity. And one cigarette was enough to quench my curiosity.

So I was just one lucky child who almost become a smoker. Maybe God pitied me because He knows that after I grew up I would be getting addicted to so many things anyway. No need to add cigarette in. I am a social network addict, mobile phone addict,
a tea addict, a traveling addict, etc.

I think I might have to use "Allen Carr's Easy Way" to help me although I am not a smoker.
This man really found what he was born to do and his technique is so simple and true. He had turn the suffering past of his life into a way to help other people. I really respect that.
And I'm glad that being a translator helped me find this book.