smoking doesn't make u cool,sorry

every cigarette and drink steals years from you and the people who love you.

You can fool the world but you can’t fool your lungs, your liver, your heart.

When I was ten years old, life pushed me into a world most children never see. My younger brother, just five years old was diagnosed with cancer and suddenly, our entire family was thrown into a storm we never asked for.

For almost two years, my mother’s mornings started before sunrise.

My father booked a car every single day to Delhi AIIMS and they would rush to the hospital with files, prescriptions, lab reports, hope and fear all mixed together and hospitals somehow became our second home.

Long lines.

Hours of waiting.

Sometimes no turn at all, just the walk back home with a feeling of helplessness heavy in the chest.

Sometimes crying quietly in hospital corridors where no one really looks at you.

Meanwhile, my brother went through things no five-year-old should ever suffer ,endless injections, chemotherapy, irritability, hair loss, weakness, pain that bent even the adults.

And then there was my father, a man with a big business suddenly unable to focus on anything not work, not life, not himself except his fear of losing his only son. He had always drunk occasionally but during that time, fear turned into a constant drink in his hand. Tears ran down his face as often as alcohol did down his throat.

My mom handled everything, the hospital, the reports, the doctors, the travel, the home… all while carrying the weight of losing her child.

Meanwhile, life at home felt like something we weren’t old enough for.

I was ten.

My elder sister was eleven.

My younger sister was seven.

Three girls, too young to understand the word “oncology” but old enough to carry a home on our backs.

My grandparents had their own jobs and inspections far from home, so most days it was just us ,children raising children.

We cooked.

We washed dishes.

We went to school alone.

We waited for parents who were living in hospital corridors because they had no other choice.

And we missed our mother in a way that made our chests ache.

Whenever she visited home for a day, we wanted to cling to her and beg ”Please don’t go back mom”

But we never said it. Something would always rise in our throats and stop the words because how could we ask her to choose our comfort over saving our brother?

So we kept swallowing our tears.

And when I first heard the word “chemotherapy” I didn’t even know what it meant. I only prayed “May my younger brother live long.”

He was so cute but we couldn’t hug him, couldn’t kiss him for maintaining hygeine.

Do you know how painful it is to love someone so much and not be able to touch them?

But he fought for his life.

And one day, life returned him to us.

He survived.

He became cancer free.

And here is the most important truth:

He didn’t choose his illness. He didn’t cause it. He didn’t bring it upon himself.He was a child fighting something he never invited into his body.

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But today… I look around see people smoke, drink, drown themselves in addictions, treat their bodies like disposable objects and I get angry. Not irritated. Angry.

Angry because I have seen what illness does to a family.

Angry because I have watched a mother run through hospital hallways with fear as her only fuel.

Angry because I have seen a child fight for life while adults casually throw theirs away.

And that is the part people don’t understand:

When you ruin your health, you aren’t just hurting yourself.

You are betraying everyone who loves you.

Your children lose a father they deserve to grow up with.

Your wife loses years she dreamed of spending with you.

Your parents lose peace they worked their whole life for.

Your family loses time you had no right to shorten.

You steal memories before they can even happen.

You steal moments before they can even be lived.

You steal a future that doesn’t belong only to you,it belongs to the people who love you.

And for what?

A cigarette that literally warns you of death?

A drink that slowly rots your liver?

A drug that steals more than it gives?

A habit you refuse to fight?

I wish people understood this simple, brutal truth:

You do not have the right to shorten your life when it also shortens someone else’s happiness.

You do not have the right to take away your child’s future moments with you.

You do not have the right to make your spouse a widow earlier than destiny intended.

You do not have the right to give your parents another reason to cry.

And you think it’s just your body.

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Also,I want to share a reality check with some eye-opening facts especially for young kids

who are destroying themselves today: smoking like their lungs are immortal, drinking like their liver is a toy, trying drugs like their brain is something they can replace later. Nobody wants to hear this but the truth is brutal “Tobacco kills up to half of its users who don’t quit.” And still you smoke.

“Tobacco kills more than 7 million people each year including an estimated 1.6 million non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke.” Yet you stand in groups blowing poison into each other’s faces as if it’s a joke. Globally, every year, an estimated “8.7 million people die prematurely” because of tobacco use but somehow everyone thinks it won’t be them. You drink every weekend like it’s a personality trait forgetting that “2.6 million deaths per year were caused by alcohol consumption” and that “alcohol-attributable deaths were 4.7% of all deaths worldwide in 2019.” Young people say drinking is ‘fun’ while WHO literally calls it “a leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability”especially among people aged 20–39. And when it comes to cancer, the reality is even darker: “Risk factors like smoking, alcohol use and high body-mass index (BMI) accounted for 4.45 million cancer deaths globally in 2019 — 44.4% of all cancer deaths.” Almost half. Half of all cancer deaths happen because people choose self-destruction. Kids try vapes, weed, pills and powders like it’s some aesthetic lifestyle, not realising they are slowly giving up years of their lives for moments of thrill.

People like my brother never chose their illness, they didn’t ask for their suffering. But healthy people today willingly invite diseases that millions pray to escape. And honestly, that is the most painful truth of all.

And just to be clear, when I said earlier that some young people do these things to be “cool” I meant those who indulge in smoking, drinking or drugs just for fun or to make others feel bad for not following the trend ,trying to prove they’re cool because they’re part of it. Saying “Cool” isn’t about them trying to survive pain or grief, it’s about the ones who treat their health and the lives of those around them like a game.

And my heart goes out to those who turn to smoking, drinking or drugs because of pain, grief or loss. I understand that sometimes life hurts so much that people try to escape it. And while I wish no one had to go through that, I also know that using these habits as a shield comes with its own price , one that steals years, health and time from the people who love them.

Sometimes it’s young people who fall into this trap. They aren’t doing it to be cool or fit in ,they’re doing it because something inside hurts too much to face. Maybe it’s loss, maybe it’s heartbreak, maybe it’s pressure or fear , the reasons are endless. And my heart goes out to them truly. I see you. I understand the urge to numb the pain.

But the thing is, these habits don’t heal. They don’t solve grief. They only bury it deeper while slowly taking away your health, your freedom and precious time you could have spent with those who love you. If life has hurt you, don’t let your body and future become another casualty. There are other ways to survive pain that don’t steal years from you or break the hearts of those who care.

So yes, I’m warning, I’m shouting, I’m giving a reality check but it’s not about judgment. It’s about care. About survival. About choosing to fight life in a way that preserves your body, your mind and the love around you.

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And I watched a five-year-old fight with everything he had just to live.

So when adults with perfectly healthy bodies choose to destroy themselves, I can’t help but ask:

Do you think your life is only yours?

Do you not see the people who will break because of your choices?

Are ten minutes of pleasure worth years stolen from your family?

If you died tomorrow because of your habits… who would be left holding the pain?

And most importantly ,why would you choose the suffering that my brother never had the choice to avoid?

I’ve seen the nightmare illness creates. I’ve lived through fear, waiting, quiet tears and prayers whispered into the night.

Some truths are meant to slap.

And this is one of them.

Because I have lived the reality you are walking toward.

And trust me ,you don’t want to live it and your family doesn’t deserve to.

If my brother could fight so hard to survive, so can you at least enough to take care of yourself, for the people who depend on you.

“The coolest thing you can do is live long enough to see the life waiting for you.”

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Thank you so much for reading guys and for caring enough to reach the end. That already says something about you and please take care of your health… it’s one of the few things in life you can’t replace and thank u so much for the support guys<3