You might be telling yourself that now isn’t the right moment, but is there really a best time to quit smoking? Between work stress and daily life, waiting for the perfect calm might mean waiting forever. As David explains on his Harley, the secret is in the attempt, not the timing…
In the end, what was supposed to be thirty minutes turned into nearly an hour. Leaving there with barely enough time to finish your pending errand, you pick up the pace and start to sweat. «Great,» you think, «now all I need is to catch a cold.» You stop at a traffic light and light a cigarette.
“Damn it, I’m late!” you exclaim out loud, checking the time.
“Where are you headed? I can give you a lift if it helps.”
Right behind you is a neighbor from the barrio. David—a metalhead with a shaved head just like Ragnar Lothbrok from the series Vikings. His head is completely shaved except for the crown, where a braid grows down to his back. Leather jacket, tight pants, and a twenty-inch metal dog leash hanging from his belt loop with a carabiner.
If you hadn’t known him since he was a kid, he might be intimidating; you might even doubt his intentions. But in the end, appearances are deceiving. Often, the people with the most «proper» look are the ones who do the most harm, while those with a frightening appearance hide a rebellious heart of gold.
“Actually, I’m heading to the other side of town and I’m already late. And from there, I have to run to the health center.”
“Ah! Like I said, I’ll take you on my Harley if you want.”
“No way, you bought a Harley?”
“Yep,” he says with a wide grin. “A Harley Sportster XL. Look at her,” he says, pointing to a group of bikes parked at the end of the street.
“She definitely stands out from the rest!” You turn back to him. “And I see you didn’t settle for the stock parts; you’ve customized her.”
“Of course! If a Harley isn’t personalized, it’s not really a Harley. I’ve added the saddlebags, ape-hanger handlebars, and changed the exhaust pipe… for now.”
“Right… so the whole neighborhood knows when you’re out for a ride.”
“Naturally,” he laughs. “Listen to how she sounds.”
The roar from the exhaust makes a flock of pigeons fly off in a panic, and an old woman pokes her head out of a window with a scowl. Seeing her, David intentionally revs the engine even harder to increase the noise.
“Busybody,” he mutters. “Come on, you coming?”
“Well, alright. Thanks a lot!”
He hands you a helmet and explains: “Look, your helmet and mine are connected so we can talk easily. They have built-in mics and speakers.” You get on the bike, and you take off toward your destination.
“What time do you have to be there?”
“In ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes? Hey, this bike isn’t built for racing,” he replies as he guns the engine and flies through a red light. “By the way, I didn’t know you smoked. Never thought about quitting?”
Not another one. They’re so annoying, you think. “Yeah… what about you? Didn’t you use to smoke?”
“I did. And I quit several times…”
“Several times?”
“Yeah. The first was when my dad caught pneumonia and almost died… I quit and stayed off it for a year or more, I think. But you know how it is—once the scare passes, you relax, and at some party, you light up again. That’s what happened to me.”
“But you quit again, right?”
“Yeah, because I met a girl. I liked her, and the first thing she told me was that she couldn’t stand the stench of tobacco and bad breath. She said if I wanted her to kiss me, I knew what I had to do.”
“And?”
“I haven’t smoked for seven years, and I’ve been with that girl for seven years.”
“And you never crave it?” you ask.
“Kissing her? Always!”
“Hahaha. No, I mean smoking. I took the other part for granted.”
“Well, look, anyone who says that once they quit they never think about it again is a damn liar. I remember tobacco mostly when I’m out having a drink or when I’m arguing with someone. But that’s all it is… a memory. It’s not a necessity like it was in the early days.”
“And what do you do in those moments?”
“I just wait, distract myself, and after a little while, I forget. Like I said, it’s just a memory, so I just think about something else. Hey, you seem really interested… are you sure you don’t want to give it a shot?”
“It’s just… now isn’t the right time,” you answer.
“Okay… but tell me,” he insists, “is it not the right time because of something specific—like you’re going through a rough patch—or is it because of a stressful situation that’s always there?”
“Is there a difference?”
“In both situations, you can quit. We all know people who’ve done it even during a bad time. But if the difficulties are temporary, then try it at a better moment. You know, someone who’s super stressed at work might quit during vacation, or on a weekend if vacation is too far off.”
“And when they go back to work, then what?”
“They’ll still be stressed, but at least they’ll have made it through the first few days, which are the worst…” He hesitates for a second, then adds: “No, it’ll be even better. Smoking actually increases nervousness. A friend told me nicotine is a stimulant and it increases the tension you feel… and it’s true. When I quit, I saw over time that I was more relaxed, less jittery… Can you imagine feeling less nervous in your day-to-day life?”
“Yeah, but for those with a chronic problem, it’s very hard.”
“Hard doesn’t mean impossible. Plenty of people in similar situations have made it. Besides, what have you got to lose?”
“That I’ll just keep smoking!”
Finding the Best Time to Quit Smoking (Even During Stress)
“Right, and? Will anything change for the worse? You’ll be right where you are now, smoking… so what? But believe me, there’s always a chance you’ll succeed, and then you’ve won.”
“But…”
“But what? To win anything, you have to accept defeats and learn from them. You know I have the word Tae-kwon-do tattooed on my leg? I got it when I won a tournament.”
“Yeah, and?”
“Well, before winning that tournament, there were dozens where I lost. In some, I was knocked out in the very first fight. And you know what I did? I trained harder. I learned from the mistakes that made me lose.”
“But if you’re in a bad place…” you reply.
“If you’re in a bad place, it’s probably harder. But it’s like competing… the guys who beat me in my first tournaments were still there when I became champion. I fought some of them again, and by the final stage, I beat real champions who seemed impossible to defeat when I first started. But I did it. Quitting smoking is the same. So… are you up for it?”
Navigation Options
- Yes, okay, I’ll try.
- The thing is, I’ve already tried and I didn’t succeed.
- Deep down, I actually like smoking.
- I don’t want to quit because I don’t see it affecting me; I’ll quit later.
- I think it’s honestly too late to quit smoking.
- If it never feels like the right time, maybe you should go back and see why.