I posted this blog in the Smokers for More than 30 years Group, but I want to share it with you all because theres a huge number that will probably shock you, but can help people understand that freedom from this addiction is possible notwithstanding how long or how much you've smoked. Here it is.
As most of you know by now, I smoked for 53 years -- started when I was 13. Back then you could smoke everywhere all the time and I did. That was when I was a 3-pack a day smoker. Then as things got more restrictive and you couldn't smoke at work or in businesses, I was down to 2 packs a day (but not because I chose to cut down). I started to say I can't even begin to calculate the number of cigarettes I smoked over that time period, but then I got curious and tried. It's a guesstimate, but it's a huge number. I figured that I smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day from 1962 to 1992, 2 packs a day from 1993 to 2013 and 1 pack a day from January 1 of 2014 to December 31 of 2014 when I quit. The number? 956,300 cigarettes. I'm obviously sitting here in shock. That's very close to a million cigarettes. How my lungs have survived I cannot even begin to imagine. I must REALLY have good genes! But while I've been lucky so far, that doesn't mean I don't treasure this quit, and know the damage I have done. So thankful for this site.
