Hattie’s story
Thinking about how smoking was affecting my health and my body was one of the main reasons I gave up.
Hattie realised she was a smoker at the age of 15, when smoking up to ten cigarettes a day. From smoking in the car to taking cigarette breaks at work and socialising, Hattie soon realised smoking had started to control her life.
Smoking was taking control of my day-to-day routine. Having the next cigarette was always on my mind – even at the pub when I would go outside and end up missing out on all the conversations.
Always keen on sport and exercising, Hattie began noticing that she wasn’t able to push her body to its limits as readily and she started experiencing shortness of breath. It made her question why she wanted to keep smoking.
“Thinking about how smoking was affecting my health and my body was one of the main reasons I gave up,” she explains. “When I stopped smoking, I noticed the benefits immediately. I automatically had more money in my bank because I wasn’t spending up to £10 on cigarettes every day. And that was the biggest thing for me.”
“Being able to spend money on myself, doing things like enjoying time with friends, smoke-free, and treating myself to new clothes, chocolate and holidays as well. Since stopping smoking I’ve calculated I’ve saved nearly £8,000. That’s an astronomical amount of money!
A lot of people smoke because they believe it helps their stress or anxiety and, in fact, the opposite is true. You spend more money. You’re controlled by having to go outside or finding somewhere to smoke and it can impact your relationships. For me, it gave me a new-found freedom and I’m really pleased I did give up in the end.
“Giving up smoking is no mean feat. But know that there are plenty of people out there who have done it before you. Speak to them, ask for support and also lean on people you know for their support too. If I can do it, you can too.”
