I Smoked Until May 2009, When Something Changed Me
For sixteen years, I smoked cigarettes—until May 2009, when something finally broke through the fog.
Every morning, I woke up unable to breathe properly. My nose was always blocked, and I had no sense of smell. My mother grows beautiful, fragrant roses in her garden, but I couldn’t smell them. I couldn’t smell the jasmine by our front porch either. Smoking had dulled my senses so completely that even food had lost its flavor.
When I was a student in Greece—and later as an adult—I got the flu easily and often. I would fall sick five or six times a year, and each time, it would take seven to ten days to recover. That’s nearly a month and a half each year spent in bed—miserable, wheezing, congested, and exhausted.
And what made it even worse? While I was sick, I couldn’t enjoy my cigarettes. Ironically, that helped me realize something important: when I was too sick to smoke, I never experienced cravings. I could go seven to ten days without a cigarette—and I didn’t feel withdrawal. I used to find that strange, but now I understand it was my body’s way of showing me that I could survive without nicotine.
Being sick meant my body had a short window of detox. But I kept going back. Year after year, illness after illness.
How Smoking Wrecks the Body
Cigarette smoke disables the cilia—the “brooms” inside your lungs—that clean out harmful particles and bacteria. Without them, your lungs get clogged with mucus and toxins.
That mucus builds up, making you cough, and trapping pathogens that lead to more infections. The lungs’ defense system breaks down. The result: frequent illness, slower recovery, and greater vulnerability to everything from common colds to pneumonia.
Smoking also damages lung tissue and reduces air capacity. That means your blood carries less oxygen, and your immune system becomes chronically weakened. In short, every breath becomes less effective.
The Heart Attack Waiting to Happen
I was overweight—84 kg (185 lbs) at 1.74 m (5 feet 9 inches)—and smoking was supposed to curb appetite, right? But there I was: overweight, addicted to nicotine, and inactive.
I had three sedentary jobs and no energy to exercise. I felt tired all the time. I even started developing acne on my chest and shoulders—something I hadn’t experienced in years.
The Day I Woke Up
One day, a customer called asking about his computer repair. I told him it was ready, and because he was in a hurry, he asked me to meet him at the roadside. From my house to the road is a small hill. When he arrived, he called again to say he was waiting. I grabbed the computer and ran uphill.
What happened next shook me to the core: I could barely make it. My lungs screamed for air, my legs buckled, and I nearly collapsed. I was 35 years old and couldn’t run up a small hill carrying a PC. The customer looked at me with concern. He thought I was having a heart attack.
That moment was my wake-up call. All of my past attempts, all of my knowledge, and all of the moments of denial and frustration—everything came together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I finally saw the full picture. The fog lifted. I knew what I had to do.
The Decision
The next day, I visited my dermatologist about the acne on my chest. He advised me to quit smoking. For the first time, I didn’t get defensive. I agreed with him.
On the way home, I was riding with my father. We were both smoking in the car. I turned to him and said, “I want to quit smoking.” To my surprise, he said, “Yes, let’s quit.”
I don’t remember if our last cigarette was in that car or the next morning, but I do remember that we threw away everything: cigarettes, ashtrays, lighters, rolling machines—everything.
We never smoked again.
Almost Six Years Later
When I wrote this excerpt for my first book Thirsty for Health, nearly six years had passed since I quit. Today, even more time has passed—and I’m still smoke-free. So is my father.
That moment on the hill, when my body nearly collapsed, became the turning point. It wasn’t planned. There was no perfect day. There was only a moment of truth—and the courage to act on it.
If this story resonates with you, you can find more in Thirsty for Health—available now on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.
