Getting rid of my addiction

There was a time when I could not stay an hour without a cigarette. When I think back to those time, I still wonder how I over came that urge and came out clean. I picked up the habit during my initial year in the service. Placed away in the wilderness where I didn’t know even a single soul during my first few weeks lead me to a shop which sold cigarettes (cigarette was freely available in every shop those days) and I tried my first piece a few days after my arrival in the place. A piece of drag led to another and before long I was consuming about 3 packets of wills in a day! Without a female companion, I had nothing to do then to listen to my small portable radio and smoke after the work hours.

When my male colleagues had tea during the break, I would rush to the washroom and smoke. A few months into it and I could smell the cigarette from my clothes and body. I even observed my lips turning blackish. During the long winter holidays, I would return to my parents and siblings and everything about my smoking habits would be forgotten. But as soon as I got back to my work station, I would reclaim it and continue from where I had left. And then came along my husband who embraced me with my many flaws. He would take a small puff from my lighted cigarette telling me that he was trying to give me company. Seeing my husband picking up the habit I decided to give it up. The decision was made so I quit smoking after chain smoking for more than three years. Giving it up was not easy for I had to compensate it with doma.

I got so much into chewing doma that I consumed Nu. 70 worth of it in a day on an average. A few years into chewing doma and I could see my teeth changing colours. My friends started calling me “Ngalong Abi” and with doma strained teeth, I literally looked that.

On the New Year eve 2005, I resolved to give up doma. I started chewing gums for a few months to control the urge of doma addiction. Now, when I reflect back to those days, I can’t help giving myself a pad on my back for being determined enough to take right decision on time.

Once I related to my friends about my smoking and doma habits, they would not believe me because they think that I am incapable of such habits but I know they would definitely believe it someday when they come across people I knew during my initial years in my service.