‘I’ve completely reinvented myself’: How quitting smoking helped Sam turn his life around…to his wife’s delight

As he works out at the gym, Samuel Jones can only look back at how different his life is now compared to almost two years ago.

Back then, he was a smoker who didn’t care about his health. But since giving up, he’s developed a newfound sense of self-respect.

Gone is the man who didn’t exercise and lived on ready meals, and in his place is someone who works out regularly and cooks and eats healthily.

Recently married Sam, 30, also credits the unexpected confidence boost that came from quitting with a new career move: he’s training to become a teacher.

‘With quitting came other changes,’ he explains. ‘When you’re smoking, you’re a bit self-destructive.

‘When you make a decision to improve yourself – even if it’s hard – it has a long-lasting effect. I now have respect for my health, my body and my mental health. I’ve completely reinvented myself.’

Sam, from London, started smoking aged 21 as he was getting over a relationship break up. He carried on lighting up for the next seven years.

‘At first, I thought “I’ll quit before 25”,’ he admits. ‘But when I tried, after a few days, I’d get irritable and anxious, a bit down.

‘As I lived in a house where everyone smoked, I could ask for a cigarette and get one immediately.’

It was meeting non-smoker Anny, his now wife, when he was 27 that finally gave him the determination he needed.

‘When we started getting serious, it started to affect our relationship. You light a cigarette in the flat and it creates a smell. I didn’t want to be outside a restaurant smoking when she was inside. And she didn’t want to kiss me afterwards.’

Then her parents, who live in Hong Kong, came over and Anny asked him not to let them know about his habit.  

‘We went to Legoland and I vividly remember having to say I needed the toilet then running over to the designated smoking area on the other side of the park,’ he says.

They never twigged but Sam knew he couldn’t possibly get away with it when he went out to stay with them for six weeks in January last year.

‘There was no way I could hide it but I knew it was the right time to give up. I think when you quit smoking, you have to be ready, you have to want it and you have to believe you can do it.

‘So I prepared. I was aware it would be challenging but while I was apprehensive, I wasn’t worried.’

He gave up a few days before flying out, using the 4mg Nicorette gum.

‘Her mum said to her “Sam does like his gum, doesn’t he?”‘ he laughs.

After a week or two, he went down to a lower strength and, by the end of the holiday, he’d swapped to regular gum.

That’s not to say it was easy – in fact, having to hide it from Anny’s parents made it harder.

‘I was going through this and having to present as if I wasn’t going through it,’ says Sam. ‘I couldn’t be honest about it.

‘The worst thing was the mood swings. I was fighting cravings the whole time – everyone smokes out there and cigarettes are so cheap. I pretty much always wanted a cigarette.

‘But the Nicorette helped. I couldn’t have done it without it. No way. I had tried cold turkey before and I couldn’t do it: I was a shell of a man, completely drained.

‘With Nicorette, I could take the gum whenever I had a craving and it would help it stop.’

Sam has now not smoked for nearly two years.

‘Anny is much happier – I don’t smell of it or leave her in restaurants while I go outside. We’re on the same wavelength now.’

He’s had the nicotine stains on his teeth removed and is enjoying having extra money in the bank.

‘I always recommend Nicorette to friends who smoke – for me, it’s the best way to quit. It couldn’t have helped me more – it was perfect for me to quit without anyone noticing!’

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