15 things to know before quitting smoking

Many have tried, but few really succeed, going all the way, with conviction, sure that, yes, smoking is seriously harmful to your health.

Now he has also put himself to the test Giovanni Benincasafamous television author, who now also publishes a dedicated book: the title is Stop f. – The delusions of a smoker (Bompiani, 304 pages, €19) and tells the story of the battle being fought to give up those damned cigarettes. «The cigarette is a killer, of course, but it is the brilliant killer of a detective story in which the victim is you. Yes, brilliant. Anything but artificial intelligence, anything but the power of thinking machines. The cigarette has managed to influence your life every minute of every day of every month of every year, for many years”, says the author, who, with an ironic and aware tone, admits: “The cigarette knows you better than anyone else. Smoking is necessary for you everywhere and every time. You eat and then smoke. You have coffee and then smoke. You drink and then smoke. You love and then smoke. You sleep and then smoke. The cigarette uses ingenious and diabolical stratagems to get back to you.”

However, this is not a self-help manual: Giovanni Benincasa recounts the memories and delusions of a smoker who should quit but doesn’t want to or, better yet, who at a certain point would like to but doesn’t know how to do it. It is to his credit, however, that he still achieved valuable results: «A piece of Lundini it’s a program that I created and staged without ever lighting a cigarette.”

Leafing through his book we found the 15 things that, according to him, a smoker, in order not to fail miserably, must know well before trying to quit.

1 – «The cigarette is CRAZY».

2 – «Quitting smoking is a war. If you want to decide to stop, arm yourself.”

3 – «You go to war but you don’t know when you will come out. Greet everyone, because for an indefinite period you will no longer see anyone with the eyes of a civilized being.”

4 – «The cigarette has affected you every minute of every day of every month of every year, for many years. And all this, she thinks, is a detail.”

5 – «Your every move has always been preceded by a cigarette».

6 – «The cigarette knows you better than anyone else».

7 – «Smoking is necessary for you everywhere and every time».

8 – «You eat and then smoke. You have coffee and then smoke. You drink and then smoke. You love and then smoke. You sleep and then smoke. Smoking is your mother.”

9 – «The cigarette uses ingenious and diabolical stratagems to get back to you. The cigarette is a genius. And instead you, many of us know, are an idiot.”

10 – «She will surprise you because she knows how and when to take you: a trip, a dinner with friends, a break, a solitude, an anxiety, a conversation, a film, a beautiful moment. A job done well. A job done badly. The exit from the station. The exit from the airport. The exit in general. Children. A daughter. A son. Brothers. A glass of wine. A coffee. A message. A lawyer. A fear. A memory. A salary. A collection. A betrayal. A problem. A wait. A call. A meeting. An answer. A party. A surprise. A triumph. A failure. An argument. A visit. One sex. A love. A tragedy. An eve. A mourning. She’ll find something to light.”

11 – «Each strong crisis has its maximum duration of about 15 minutes. I tried it. Sometimes 20. Sometimes 9. During that crisis, the cigarette will suck your brain to find solutions, deals, exceptions like: I only smoke this one and then that’s it. I swear. Seeking a new compromise is one of his strongest weapons. Looking for a new agreement (it will be our secret, Giò) can make her win.”

12 – «Every crisis you manage to overcome – I suggest you take note of it – will determine an advantage for the next crisis. The chains of these successes (ten, fifty, one hundred links) represent your experiences as a resident and lead you to the sad triumph: you are working to defeat the need to smoke, but not the “pleasure” of doing so. That will follow you for life.”

13 – «Smoking is an enormous comfort. A moment you cherish. Something that sums up your ability to be there. When you stop, it will feel like you don’t exist. But I’ll tell you a word from many former smokers. They told me: “pass!”».

14 – «You must not go astray. Convince yourself that for every quarter of an hour of resistance, Life will give you a gift. The sum of these quarters of an hour of Gloria will bring you something so wonderful, so amazing that you must never go astray.”

15 – «If you were hit by a train and didn’t even suffer a scratch, to support yourself from that fear you can ask the first passer-by for a cigarette. Tell him about the scare and enjoy your salvation. There is a February 29th for each of us. We all screw up every fourth, as per the schedule. But then go back and reread from point 9.”

And to the question: «But is there even a reason not to quit smoking?». He responds like this: «The cigarette is also a cover of time and a cover of space: it helps you and puts you in “position” for the necessary time. That is: you smoke while waiting. Then you turn on another and another, until the train arrives. If you don’t smoke, the train won’t arrive. Or arrive late. If you smoke, the train arrives. When you no longer smoke, you will lose all these “positions on the field” and you will live suspended in a tormenting nothingness.”