this has been a learning experience for me. i really dont mean about all the techniques and smoking cessation tools.. although they were helpful as well...
what i am referring to is what i have learned about myself during this quit...
from the beginning.. 3 years successes and failures...there has been a constant theme ...dont give up stick to it...endure,presevere...
well i was a smoker for 43 years.. i have watched smoking go out of style... i remeber when we could smoke in the grocery store while shopping....and we would go to dennys after going out and have cocktails and smoke in a group in the restaurant...we would all sit in a circle with an ashtray in the middle...and once we got in trouble at work cause the chopping block style table had all kinds of burns in it from leaving our cigarettes in theshtray while we waited on customers...or cooked on the grill our orders and the cigarette fell out burning the table...
well in 5 days i will have my first year complete...and it has not been a picnic...i read a blog where someone gave up the fight and is back to day 1... it reminded me of myself
all this time fighting it... making excuses,feeling tempted...
it wasnt until i realized that there is no prize there is no special thing that iis ging to happen if you quit...because i am doing it for me ...
my special prize is that i get to breathe without an oxygen tank, i can go anywhere and nobody is going to smirk and turn up their nose because of the smell, i dont have to sit at the edge of my seat looking for a escape so i can feed my addiction ...i can use my last dollar for gas if i need to without worrying where im going to get another dollar to get a pack of cigarettes later ...i am not a SLAVE anymore...
so if you have smoked and started over dont give up ...take it as a mistake and move on... break free...you are only still addicted thats all...never ever take that quit breaking puff again...time passes so quickly that soon you will be celebrating your year quit...it just seems so far away cause you are still addicted...
