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Share your quitting journey

It runs in the family

JonesCarpeDiem
Member
5 4 132
‎02-15-2024 07:40 AM

Does being a smoker run in the family?

Yes and No.

Neither of my parents nor my brothers smoked but I did for 40 years.

I know there are those whose parents smoked that felt it would be a bad choice for them so they never took up smoking.

What else runs in the family?

Chronic Illness and Disease

          I've had family members who had heart problems.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Macular Degeneration

I could go on but we all have some genetic predispositions that may creep up on us as we age and our bodies weaken.

I got diabetes after I quit and that leads to all kinds of physical breakdowns. Kidneys, heart, eyes, etc. etc.

These can be daunting, especially when you are making a big life change like quitting smoking.

What keeps life interesting? What keeps you going?

I believe it's creativity. Creativity releases dopamine

Here is a link to an article about remaining creative with chronic illness.

https://www.self.com/story/creativity-and-chronic-illness

Perhaps it will encourage and keep someone from giving up on their quit.

Time Is The Healer

 

4 Comments
About the Author
Hello, My name is Dale. I was quit 18 months before joining this site and had participated on another site during that time. I learned a lot there and brought it with me. I joined this site the first week of August 2008. I didn't pressure myself to quit. HOW I QUIT I didn't count, I didn't deny myself to get started. When I considered quitting (at a friends request to influence his brother to quit), I simply told myself to wait a little longer. No denial, nothing painful. After 4 weeks I was down to 5 cigarettes from a pack a day. The strength came from proving to myself, I didn't need to smoke because I normally would have smoked. Simple yes? I bought the patch. I forgot to put one on on the 4th day. I needed it the next day but the following week I forgot two days in a row I put one in my wallet with a promise to myself that I would slap it on and wait an hour rather than smoke. It rode in my wallet my first year.There's nothing keeping any of you from doing this. It doesn't cost a dime. This is about unlearning something you've done for a long time. The nicotine isn't the hard part. Disconnecting from the psychological pull, the memories and connected emotions is. :-) Time is the healer.