The Lie

NADA

Posted January 10, 2019 

I'm not sure if there are others out there who believe that smoking and lying go hand-in-hand, but I found myself lying to people throughout my life about whether I smoked, how much I smoked, and if it was effecting my health.  This is a post I wrote a few years ago.

Most of us smokers began our years or decades of addiction back when we were teens.  We learned to lie about smoking right from the very beginning.  Usually it started with our parents asking why we smelled like a rancid ashtray.  “Oh, I was at Johnny Picklefork’s house and his mom smokes like a chimney” I nervously responded.  “That Bertha Picklefork really needs to cut back” my mom would chuckle.

A few months later my mother met me at the door with a pack of reds in her hand as I returned from school.  “Young man, what was this doing in your sock drawer?” I let out a small sigh of relief knowing that it was only the cigarettes that she found. “Um, Tammy Tamblanadana’s brother was grounded for smoking so Tammy asked if I could hold on to them for a few days”.

Sometime later my dad drove by me holding a cigarette in my hand while hanging out with the neighborhood kids. When asked about this at dinner, I effortlessly told him, “I was just holding it for Jin Dong while she tied her shoe”.

Once it was second nature to lie to my parents about smoking, it became just as easy to lie to myself about it.

• I can quit any time I want.
• I just do it to calm myself down.
• It relaxes me.
• It’s just a habit.

The list could go on forever.  It kept me in the cycle of addiction for decades until one day I called it out for what it was:  Pure Bulls&@t!

Not only are the health benefits endless when you quit, but it’s incredibly liberating to stop lying to yourself and others.

P.S.  The names in this story have been changed to protect the innocent.

Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/11725-the-lie/