Changing your behavior is one of the hardest things to do. Especially
something you feel is a part of you, for instance, smoking. It becomes
such a habit, you don't realize how addicted you are until you try to
stop. I smoked from the age of 13 until I started having babies. No
matter how many people told me it was bad for me, I did not believe
them. It took for me to become pregnant with my first child at a very
young age, and talk with my OBGYN about the risks of nicotine and
pregnancy. Low birth weight, and increased chance for respiratory
distress in a newborn. I had to completely quit cold turkey. The gum
did not help, talking did not help, and finally, the patches did nothing
as well. For me, giving myself a day to stop smoking. I told myself I
have 3 days and I need to be done. For people to change their
behaviors I believe they need to see that it doesn't just affect them,
but also affects those around them negatively. You cannot force
someone to change, they have to want to change to do the work for it
to work.
