Do you really want that?

 

She was still alive.

She had just finished her pulmonary emphysema treatment. She had barely come out alive of this whole situation, but at least, she was alive.

The last few months had been very difficult for her and her family. They were all exhausted and all they wanted was return to their daily lives as usual.

They wanted to put all that behind. Forget about it and pretend that it never happened with a smile on their faces.

Of course, the doctors forbid her to even look at a cigarette ever again!

And, in the beginning, she said she would do everything in her power to regain her health and her life once more.

But, in her heart, things were very different. 

In the outside it seemed she was determined to win this battle.  But her heart spoke a different language.

After some weeks after being declared “healthy” she told a mutual friend that she had been investigating “online” about her illness and that she was perfectly well, that she was healthier than ever and therefore she had decided to go back to smoke once more.

I could not believe what our friend had said.  Probably it was a bad joke and she was just trying to scare us a little.  But no.  Few days later, I saw her smoking again.

I tried to talk her out of it, but she brushed me off saying she was determined to smoke again and not let the illness go back to her system again.

“But that is not possible!” I cried. “You are going to waste all the hard work you have done all this time to regain your health, please do not do it.” I tried to convince her with no success whatsoever.

She was determined to go back to her old vices and there was nothing anybody could do to stop her. Her own words.

To make this story short, yes, she lost that battle. A few weeks after I saw her she passed away and all her close friends were devastated.

On the other side of the coin, a few days ago, I found a friend who was a heavy smoker too. She told me she stopped drinking and smoking for two years now and that there was definitely not going back to that life.

“One morning I saw myself in the mirror and I looked like a zombie, I knew very well alcohol and tobacco were mining my life and I felt scared as never in my life.  I knew people were dying for paying no attention to their body and in that very moment, I knew I had to change my habits before it was too late.” She said with a cold voice.

“I was determined to leave the tobacco and alcohol for good. And so, I did, just like that.  I did not need any special treatment or course, meditation, nothing.  I just decided to stop it for good.  And as I was totally frightened, that same day those awful things disappeared from my life. I have never felt the need to go back to them anymore.” She said with a smile in her face.

Another friend of mine did the same thing with smoking. He just made the decision to quit one day, and he never went back to that vice.

I did the same when I stopped eating red meat. One day I just decided it was doing no good to my heart and never went back to it.  I am healthier now since I stop with the red meat and that was 30 years ago.

This has taught me that if you are not willing to learn a lesson there is no way to help you. No one can force you to learn a lesson, to make a change in your life unless you are open and willing to it. But once you are determined to make the changes, no one can stop you, no matter what.

Please, we all need to renew ourselves every day.  What happened to you yesterday will not define what will happen tomorrow, keep that in mind always.  You are the only one who can determine that today is The Day!

Make the decision to be happier today and tomorrow you will be more than grateful that you did so. Be determined to learn the lesson and change what is no longer useful to you.