Day 365 - 1 Year Anniversary - Made it another day

[marilyn_marmac]

Made it another day! As I read back through my blogs, I realized that phrase was repeated over and over. Made it another day! On August 13, 2013, my 13^th day without a cigarette, I posted this blog: One day at a time.  Breathe in...Breathe out...Breathe in...Breathe out....I can do this; I've did it for 13 days now and I can do it for another day. Tomorrow, I'll tell myself it's been 14 days and I can make it through 1 more.  One day, I'll tell myself it's been a month and I can do 1 more! May that cycle continue forever, even when I'm feeling weak.  I don't know why, but today is a hard one. I don't have a reason, no stress or anything that should make this day harder, but it is. So today, I'll spend all my extra time on Ex and soak up the knowledge that is shared in the blogs and sites.

“Tomorrow” did come.  The next day, my 14^th day of “Made it another day” I was just a wee bit excited that had made it through the previous day, and posted the following:                                                                        Here's a big CONGRATS to every one of us!  Regardless if it's day 1 or day 10,001 it's something to brag about! For me....Quit Date: July 31, 2013----That means I've went 14 days---that's 2 whole WEEKS of not SMOKING!!! Woot-Woot & Yippie kay-yay cause I haven't maimed a single person or been sent to the funny farm during this 1st 2 weeks:)

Now, if I was that excited at 2 weeks, you can only imagine how excited I am today! Today I can say I have “Made it another day” for  1 whole YEAR!

“Made it another day.” Taking it 1 day at a time was how I managed the urges. But that’s not the only thing that helped me get through this 1^st (there will be many more) year. It was you, and you, and you! Each of you helped me.  Every blog, every word of encouragement. The smiles and laughter. The wins and the losses. The stories of happiness, courage, triumph and survival. The stories of sadness, distress, disappointment and discouragement...each of them helped me make it through one more day. Each of you made me want to win this battle. I thought I was logging on to a "Smoking Cessation" website that first day. I was wrong! What I actually logged onto was an "EXtended Family" website. I have found friends and mentors here. I have found people that I care about. But most important, I have found hero's here. Hero's (aka Elders) that are working to save as many lives as they can. I will never be able to express just how much I admire and thank the Elders on this site! And just as exciting, I've had the privilege of watching my quit friends grow in strength and wisdom and turn into hero's as well!

For anyone new to the quit or anyone struggling with your quit…take it 1 day at a time. Tomorrow you can say “Made it another day!” Before you know it, those “Made it another day” will add up, just as they did for me.

If you think I’m different from you, well… I’m just a little different from everyone, but that’s another story 😉 The thing is, as you can see from my blogs, I struggled! I didn’t come on this site with a determination to quit.  Just the opposite! I came on this site with ZERO intentions of quitting! On January 27, 2014, my 6 month quit anniversary, I posted a confession:                                                                                          Today marks my 180th Day of being smoke free. If someone had told me when I first quit that I would still be smoke free in 6 months (That's half of a year!) I would have just smiled at them. You see, I didn't start this with the intention of it being a forever quit. It was just going to be for about a month, maybe 2 "TOPS" to prove that I didn't have a problem with smoking. I certainly wasn't addicted to nicotine! I logged onto Ex as a way to get my husband and Dr off my back for a while. You know, the "I'm trying to quit" Bunch of Bologna. Of course, my husband and Doctor weren't aware of my little plan to stop just long enough to get them off my back for a while 🙂 And then, a strange thing happened! I started reading the educational links, reading blogs, and then writing my own. Even though I tried to ignore the "addiction" part of the educational material, my withdrawals and body forced me to admit that I really was a nicotine addict. And somewhere along the line, my TEMPORARY quit turned into a FOREVER quit.

I won't say it's been an easy road for me. I didn't have a magical day where "just like that" I never craved another cigarette. It's taken strength and determination, a daily dose of N.O.P.E, and at times I've cursed until I ran out of all known cuss words and starting inventing my own. I'm quite creative 🙂 You want to know what I did have going for me? It was determination and this wonderful group of people supporting me. The people on this site have kept me strong on days I wanted to give up. You've made me laugh; you’ve touched me with your stories of triumph and the everyday pains of life. You've become my extended family and I plan on celebrating many more special dates with you. For anyone new to this journey, know that if I can do it, you can too. Stay strong.

Today, I have the honor of celebrating this very special date, my 1 YEAR anniversary, with my EXtended Family.  Love and Thanks to each of you!

Marilyn - “Made it another day”

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

- Albert Schweitzer