Who is in Control, You or the Cigarette?

A few days ago I flew up to Seattle to visit family and friends. My flight was delayed and I spent needless extra hours in an airport. If I had been a smoker, this would have been very uncomfortable. Many participants in my stop smoking workshops have admitted that they avoid flying because of the restrictions on smoking. They can't or don't want to have to deal with the stress of flying and spending hours without getting a hit from Kid Nicotine. For others that must fly, it is to not uncommon for them to use Nicotine Replacement Products such as the patch, the gum or lozenge to get through those times when they absolutely can't smoke. So they instead of using these products to help them quit, they are used to just handle the withdrawals until they can grab a cigarette.
I remember once having a date at a 5 star restaurant. I noticed there was no ashtray on the table and I immediately wanted to leave because I thought I couldn't smoke, (Of course, this was many years ago, many states now ban smoking in restaurants). I would have missed out on a great meal.
These are just a couple of way that cigarettes control our lives instead of us being in control. When new laws are proposed to limit smoking, the smoker automatically thinks that the government is exercising too much control over our lives but isn't it the other way around? The cigarette restricts what we will and will not do, it is exercising the ultimate control but making us think that nicotine is a friend that we can't live without instead it is a cell mate that keeps us in prison. Cigarettes went as far as dictating what size purse I would buy because it had to be big enough for all the normal things women carry in a purse, plus two packs of cigarettes, after all, I didn't want to run out. I lived in fear of not having my cigarettes near.
List all the way that Kid Nicotine is keeping your world a prison and think of the freedom you will have when you knock Kid Nicotine out of your life for good.