In news that will surprise no one, smoking is terrible for your health. It's the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., claiming millions of lives each year. If you ask a smoker if they know smoking is bad for them, they'll nod. The information is out there, clear as day. So, why don't they quit? Because knowing you should do something is different from actually committing to do it. We all know we should eat better, exercise more, be kinder, forgive easier. Yet, we don’t always make the effort. When I was a smoker, I knew I should quit. I didn’t like how it made me feel, but I kept going. Rationalizing my behavior was easy. I was young, and smoking made me feel good in social situations. Later, when I was going through a rough patch in my life, smoking felt like a way to cope, even though I knew it was bad. The day I finally quit had nothing to do with discovering a new health fact or finding the perfect tool to help me stop. I quit because I made a decision about who I was. I had been a smoker, but I was no longer willing to define myself that way. I stopped cold turkey, no tools, no tricks. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be either. The key? It was all about changing my identity. I no longer saw myself as a smoker. The moment I embraced being a nonsmoker, everything changed. It wasn’t about fighting cravings or willpower. It was about recognizing that the old version of me—the smoker—was no longer who I wanted to be. And once that shift happened, quitting became almost effortless. The same is true for anything in life. If you’re trying to change something about yourself—whether it's quitting smoking or becoming a better person—you have to start by deciding who you want to be. The actions, habits, and choices follow naturally once you’ve made that mental shift.