If ever you needed motivation to quit smoking cigarettes, this is it: A doctor in China harvested the lungs of a deceased 52-year-old chain smoker, discovering grey, sickly organs that were unfit for donation. The photos and video show heavy damage from 30 years of pack-a-day smoking. The lungs are distended and spotted with black… they are painful to look at, it’s hard to imagine breathing with them. (1)
Dr. Chen Jingyu of Wuxi People’s Hospital in China was the surgeon who performed the operation. According to him, in China, there are many smokers. Anyone can donate their organs, even smokers, and if the lung damage is within a certain set of parameters, smoke-damaged lungs can sometimes be accepted for transplant. But these didn’t make the cut, they were too far gone.
Unsurprisingly, the man died of complications from multiple lung issues. And, if the condition of his lungs is any indication, his last days were difficult. It was probably hard to breathe.
Chain Smoker? Be Brave Enough To Quit.
Jingyu said in a statement “Many smokers in this country have lungs which look like this. Our team decided to reject these lungs for transplant. If you’re a heavy smoker, your lungs may not be accepted even if you choose to donate them after death. Look at these lungs — do you still have the courage to smoke?” (1)
But I would humbly suggest that it takes very little courage to continue feeding an addiction, to maintain the status quo.
Courage, fortitude, is needed when you want to shake things up… go a different direction… to choose not to feed your addiction and instead endure the discomfort of withdrawal, knowing that better days are coming. That you’re mightier than your addiction.
Do you have the courage to quit? I think that’s the real question.
Incremental Changes Count
There are far too many smoking cessation methods these days to say which is the best one. Bottom line, you’re trying to get to a point where your hands never touch cigarettes. That can be a long process, or quite short.
The fact is that cold turkey rarely works, but if it did, you’d be rid of the physical addiction in just 72 hours. Then you’re left to work through the other aspects of the addiction, which is a whole other can of worms.
Vaping helps with the hand-to-mouth ritual, one of those “other aspects”. With juices containing various levels of nicotine, it’s possible and easy(ish) to step down your addiction to zero. (2)
Then once again, you’re left to work through what’s left: your triggers, and your habits.
With something like a nicotine patch, you can maintain the physical addiction to nicotine and focus on the cessation of the act itself. Similar to vaping, you step down the patch use with time.
Anyone who has wrestled with their own smoking addiction knows, when you start poking at it, you quickly realize the addiction is multi-faceted. Possibly that is a scary realization for you and not a challenge you are up for tackling all at once.
I would humbly suggest here again, that it takes great courage to even look in the direction of our addiction and to acknowledge the hold it has on us. If you’re able to do that, and it results in small changes to start out, that’s totally OK. You’re on your way then, and that’s what matters.
There’s something so inspiring about witnessing courage like this in another human. Are you looking forward to being someone’s inspiration? Of course you are… who wouldn’t?
