At one time I smoked, but in 1959 I couldn’t think of anything else to give up for Lent so I stopped - and I haven’t had a cigarette since.

Merman frames a major personal change—quitting smoking—as an almost offhand byproduct of religious discipline. The humor (“couldn’t think of anything else”) underscores how habits can be broken not only through health scares or moralizing, but through a concrete, time-bounded commitment that creates a clear rule and a public or inward sense of accountability. The punch line—she never smoked again—turns a temporary Lenten sacrifice into a lasting transformation, suggesting the power of ritual and self-imposed structure. It also subtly counters the stereotype of willpower as grim struggle: for her, the decisive act is presented as practical, even casual, yet effective.