“I quit smoking and life has become better since." "It started as peer pressure. My name is Duc and I'm an artist. I used to smoke as a student in Vietnam Fine Arts University, starting in 1995. My friends smoked, so I became curious and tried how it felt like. Since then, it had become a habit. Every time I painted, I smoked." | WHO Country OfficeViet NamHealth TopicTobacco |
“Smoking is just a habit, but it's a hard habit to break" | "I believe many people smoke because of the habit of smoking, not because of addiction. I have artist friends who need cigarettes when drawing, just for their pleasure. I used to be like that. There were days when I smoked the leftover butts when there were no more cigarettes in the house. Smoking was my habit for six to seven years, so it was very difficult to quit. However, my girlfriend's 'threat' was the biggest motivation for me to give up smoking. I completely quit smoking when I got married." |
"I stayed disciplined by smoking only five cigarettes a day for three to five months. Then, I completely stopped smoking. Two years following my quitting, the temptation to smoke was still there. There were times when I found my hand 'involuntarily' touching my pocket in search for the pack of cigarettes. I chewed gums and drank tea or water, instead of smoking. Two more years after, the temptation was completely gone. The biggest difficulty was to give up smoking as a habit. I told myself that if I could not overcome it and I ended up doing it again, I would definitely smoke more than I did before. I witnessed a friend who tried to stop smoking for six months. But then he could not sustain it, and he smoked again... a lot more. | "The urge to smoke was strong, but love was stronger" |
"Smoking does not bring out the creativity in you. I believe smoking is just a habit. It does not contribute to creativity, which is a power that lies and grows inside ourselves" | "Since I stopped smoking, I gained my weight back, and got healthier. I still draw and live normally. Now that I'm not a smoker anymore, I realize even more how bad smoking is. The smell of the smoke lingers on our clothes. It spreads in the air, which is very uncomfortable to others who do not smoke. I now find smoke smell uncomfortable. My friends say I am so brave because many people cannot do that. I tell people that I quit smoking for my wife, and I am not ashamed of it. It may be very difficult to quit, but with a strong motivation, one can definitely succeed. To quit tobacco is to respect one's health. I beat smoking and I am proud of this achievement." |
Nguyen Van Duc was born in 1976 in Hanoi, Vietnam. He graduated from the Hanoi Fine Arts University with Master Degree. For several years Duc lectured fine art at the University of Art Teacher Training, until recently he decided to work as a full time artist. All photos © WHO Viet Nam |