How to quit smoking and learn a foreign language in a short period of time and other stories..

Some time ago I wrote about celebrations which were not actually that important, but today I am writing about a very important one: Tomorrow I am celebrating one month smoke free what literally means that I spent one month, 30 days no smoking at all! I am such a brave girl!!

But no, I am not that brave and now you wondering what the hell has quitting cigarettes to do with learning languages and bla bla bla..

Easy and simple:

MOTIVATION!

In fact this post is more about motivation and which kind of things makes a person undergo a certain effort to change her/his life! In my language we have a popular saying: QUERER E PODER, that means that wishing something is the way to get it!

And now the bridge to learn a foreign language... this makes sense here!

Amongst my group of friends we conclude some time ago that there are two major sources of motivation to learn a foreign language: either one learns it when a kid, in the cradle, or as an adult, in "bed". Of course, once a kid, the motivation is innate and comes from the need to understand the others and talk/express therefore communicate as a human being. From the adult perspective, that motivation is about LOVE! Ok, who says love, says something love-like and I just know so many people who are currently learning a language that they would never thought to learn as a way to impress their beloveds, or to make them happy, or to seduce them, or to date them, of simply to go to bed with them.. whatever the wills it entails motivation from the presence of a person who speaks a language one does not know.

So now I opened another bridge.. The bridge from MOTIVATION to FEELINGS!
The feelings are the other stories, that is so much about feelings and so many feelings in our human world and it is sometimes so difficult to control them: to understand them, to deal with them, to hide them, to show them!
But one thing one should bear in mind: feelings are a source of motivation! Motivation to learn a language, motivation to quit smoking, motivation to change life, motivation to travel, motivation to settle down, motivation to start again, to climb, to fight, to built, to stay or to go, to party and dance, to watch TV, to not watch TV, to change habits, to do sports, to smile and to cry and even to die for! And we can't deny our feelings, we can barely control them and they trap us sometimes taking us to situations that we think they could never happen! That’s so complex..

But not to make this post much longer because actually I just wanted to let you know I stopped smoking and I want as much people to know about this as possible people that I don’t want to let down and I think that will help me think twice before I lit up a next cigarette!
For those who read this and think about stop smoking or not and what would really change whether they would stop in terms of health benefits I leave you a list of What Happens to Your body if you stop smoking Right now?
by Wade Meredith on July 19th, 2006


This little timeline below is about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW (http://www.healthbolt.net/2006/07/19/what-happens-to-your-body-if-you-stop-smoking-right-now/)

• In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.


• In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.


• In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.


• In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
  In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.


• In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.


• In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.


• In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.


• In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.


• In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
  So, you have more immediate things to look forward to if you quit now besides just freaking out about not being able to smoke.

But above all, smoking is not popular anymore, its not fashion, it is not cool! It is very expensive, smelly and useless!
I quite enjoyed smoking and for me the most difficult part of it was because I wasn’t doing it for addiction but it was the pleasure of holding a cigarette and drinking a beer while talking to people, etc etc, I got rid of the nicotine addiction a long time ago, the real hard part of the quitting procedure are the social meetings. I don’t want to fail this time; tried a few times before with no success; but NOW I have got a lot of motivators! And I don’t even have to learn another language!! :)))