Many years ago I had a friend whom, for the convenience of the story, I will call Arkady in this article. He wasn't a bad guy. And as it seemed to me then, without serious shortcomings. Except, perhaps, for one thing - he smoked. Moreover, for a long time. From the age of 14. Some treat people who smoke with tolerance, others with pity. Some people consider this habit harmful, and the people themselves as addicts. And everyone is right in their own way. This article will not talk about how other people treated Arkasha smoking. And about how he himself treated his habit. Because this attitude seems very interesting and informative to me. So, Arkady considered smoking to be his most important drawback. And he was sure that it was precisely this that was the cause of all his other problems - lack of finances, difficulties communicating with girls, low energy and lack of free time. “Look,” he said, “I’m spending money on cigarettes that I could save or invest somewhere. My breath smells and it puts girls off from talking to me. I have to constantly take smoking breaks, which takes a lot of time. And there’s no need to even mention the deterioration in health - this is written about on every pack.” Do you understand? Arkady was sure that addiction to cigarettes was a stumbling block to improving his life. It is not surprising that with such an attitude towards smoking, he spent a huge amount of time and effort trying to get rid of this addiction. Every two weeks, for example, he accomplished a feat - he smoked his “last” cigarette. Moreover, he did this in a solemn atmosphere - he attracted witnesses to this ritual, who were supposed to become accomplices of his triumph, emotionally pumped himself up and smoked this very “last” cigarette with very concentration and with utmost pathos. However, his victories rarely lasted longer than 3 days. This was completely incomprehensible to me at the time. Well, if cigarettes really are such a hindrance to your success, is it really so difficult to cut them out of your life? After all, there will be so many benefits from this - money, girls, time, and health! Increased self-esteem, finally. Just one habit, just one obstacle on the way to your comfortable and happy life - and that’s it! But no. Over 20 years have passed since then. And I have to report that Arkady still smokes. Only now, as far as I know, he makes no attempts to free himself from this addiction. He dropped his hands, admitting that cigarettes had completely subjugated his will. And he lives his days sadly, angry at the entire tobacco industry. He accepted the fact that he would have no time, no money, no health in the future. And I’m only glad that I managed to marry a pretty girl who gave him two wonderful daughters. In recent years, we have hardly communicated. And this distance allowed me to step back from his “sacred” struggle and look at this problem from the outside. I tried to understand what prevented him from making his life easier - improving his self-esteem, gaining time, health and money, just by giving up smoking. Is nicotine really such a strong drug? And you know what I realized for myself? There will be no relief from quitting smoking! You will save a little money, maybe 2-3 thousand rubles a month. Time – also at most an hour and a half a day. Health... it is unlikely that there will be an immediate and qualitative leap. Moreover, he is already approaching forty. What then? And then instead of one problem he will get several. After he quits smoking, I think he can understand that he doesn’t have money not because he spends it on cigarettes, but because he doesn’t know how to earn it, keep it and increase it. He doesn’t have time, not because he allocates it for smoking breaks, but because he is not able to organize himself and devote the main time to the main things. He does not see health and excellent well-being, not because he clutters his body with nicotine and tar (or rather, not only because of this), but also because Arkady pays absolutely no attention to