The Quitter

Someone said, Winners never quit and quitters never win. Deriving from that quote, it is often thought that quitters are losers. But with due respect, I beg to disagree. For I have already won when I quit…from smoking.

The decision was not a child’s play. It took all my maturity to accomplish my goal. And I did it. But it had been a proverbial tug-of-war. Actually, I already tried quitting at least twice since I initiated the bad habit on my 21^st birthday. At one point, I managed to be smoke-free for a year. And in another time, 2 years. On each attempt, I experienced withdrawal symptoms which I’d only become aware of in later time. For all its worth, I did prove that I have the will power. Or did I?

With hunger for knowledge, I’d come to know that each cigarette contains addictive nicotine, carcinogenic tar, and other hazardous chemicals. And that each smoke shortens the life of smoker by 11 minutes. I even saw horrific pictures of lungs from corpses of chain smokers. And a thousand times I’d already read – Warning: Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous To Your Health. But these bits and pieces of life-threatening information had proven to be worthless. When I puff in the white vapor into my mouth down to my lungs and then exhaled a whiff of menthol through my nasal cavity, it’s déjà vu – a taste of heaven once more! Before I knew it, I’m back to the routine of inhaling-smoke-of-burning-tobacco again. And this time I’d become more addicted that a pack a day would not be enough.
This went on for years. In my subconscious, as long as I felt good, I would continue to smoke. But then I experienced a saturation point. I reached a critical situation where I loathed my addiction as I got ill last summer. I felt so lethargic, lost my appetite, and had difficulty in breathing. This really got me worried. In my mind I thought if I continue this health-defying habit, things will even get worse. So rather than suffer more diseases later in life, I finally decided to quit. And looking back, I'm glad I made the decision. It’s still a constant battle against temptation but I’m feeling much better now.

Going back to that famous quotation, I had known it since I was in highschool. But I never really found out who spoke those words. And so my natural curiosity hinted me to finally look for the identity of the speaker. By the power of Google Search (the most-used search engine in World Wide Web), it led me to Vincent Thomas Lombardi, the Football-Hall-of-Famer. With his unparalleled streak of victories, Vince never had a losing season as a head coach in the National Football League. He’s so legendary that the NFL trophy is named in his honor. His “never quit” attitude undoubtedly culminated to his success.

But life is an irony – for Mr. Lombardi did quit, too. And what’s more interesting, I found out that he’s also a smoker! But he cut the habit when he reached 50. From funtrivia.com, “He quit in 1963. Lombardi had long considered smoking to be a sign of a weak will, but lacked the necessary willpower to quit. Then after experiencing a dizzy spell that he attributed to smoking, he quit cold turkey during the 1963 season and never smoked again - much to the consternation of his staff, all whom smoked.” He lived seven more years until he succumbed to cancer in 1970. He was 57 years young. On his deathbed, the famed football coach said that he was not afraid to die, but he had regrets for he could have accomplished more if he’s given more years to live. It might have been too late for him. But not for others like me.

Learning this vital detail in his biography, it gave me another valid reason to quit. It's good to know he's also a quitter like me. Because of that, I will never quit on quitting smoking for I think I did the right choice. Thanks for the inspiration, Vince!


And so to rephrase Lombardi’s quote:


Sometimes you have to quit...to be a winner.