Adam's smoke free story
Adam’s smoke free story
Adam, 48, had been a smoker for over 30 years. After suffering a heart attack on his way to work in May this year, Adam made the decision to stop smoking for good.
“The route to the hospital was down through Parliament Square, and I remember looking out the little window in the top of the ambulance and I was flooded with a range of emotions: fear of dying, fear of leaving my family. In addition, I had anger. I felt anger at myself for smoking for 30 years. As I looked out over Parliament, I said no more smoking for me and that's when I decided to quit.
On my second day in the hospital, I got a call from Barnet’s Stop Smoking team. I was always very sceptical of these coaching things. But I decided that whoever wanted to help me, I was going to say “yes”. For the next couple weeks, I would speak to an advisor, and we’d talk for 15 minutes. What I discovered was that I was getting positive reinforcement. They understood that I was doing something difficult and that I was doing a good job of it and it was 15 minutes a week of just hearing someone say “good job”.
We spoke about how smoking is part of your lifestyle and how to make it not part of your lifestyle. The first day I went back to work I was walking towards my office, and I almost took this right turn towards the Starbucks that I used to go to. I would go to that Starbucks, get a coffee, walk outside and have a cigarette. That was my routine but I heard my advisors voice in my head saying “just take a different step, take a step in a different direction.” So I literally stepped in a different direction. I went left instead of right and I just broke that one little thing.
Any time I was tempted to have a cigarette, I thought my advisor would be so disappointed. I really felt they were a partner. They were really invested in my success, and they were happy that I was being successful. I was pleased to have somebody who understood how difficult it was.
The Stop Smoking service brought an element of joy to the process. When you think of stopping smoking, it’s a chore, it's a challenge but the service made it fun. It brought some celebration in terms of achieving.
If you’re thinking of stopping smoking use the Barnet Stop Smoking service. Even if you don't know how they're going to help you say yes.”
If you’re thinking about stopping smoking, or know someone who is, get help with Barnet’s stop smoking service.