Welcome Newcomers 2021

[Anonymous]

ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT QUITTING

Quitting?

R U thinking ya should, You want to? R U scared ? . I was scared .

I had so much fear I would actually have panic attacks thinking about quitting . My mind ran in circles with fear ...fear of not knowing how to live without a cigarette or could I live without a cigarette .  I played the "what ifs" in my head over and over like a broken record . What if I failed, what if I lost control ! 

I attempted many times to set up a quit date . It was tomorrow, this week, or that day; after that stress , that crisis . It was always after , after, after and I always left a way out of being committed to succeed . "I tried " was one of my excuses to give in easily . " The NRT didn't work for me " was another . Then it was other people's fault , a crisis , an argument . I had plenty of opportunities to free myself , yet stayed hooked . 

What then was the deciding factor ;the final straw that made me look at my denial and face the truth . What happened that led me to take my quit seriously ?

Let me tell you the story and who I owe my thanks to . I walked into the hospital parking lot one day and saw an elderly lady with an oxygen tank attached to her wheel chair . She was crying out for a cigarette . Seeing her in gut wrenching agony and tears over her addiction really woke me up . She was in distress with her breathing , on oxygen , and in tears in a wheel chair pushing in sheer exhaustion as hard as she could to get to the smoking area away from the hospital . She begged me for a cigarette and tears rolled down her face as she told me that her children wouldn’t bring her any .

I couldn’t give her a cigarette. Gosh , I wanted to , I wanted her pain to go away because I knew how much she was hurting , but I also knew that smoking was a killer .

Instead I gave her a hug and we talked a while until the crave went away and she felt a little better . I left with the imagery of that wonderful woman who because of smoking was paying the consequences in so many more hurtful ways . Consequences that were not only affecting her but also her family . Would that be me ?

I was so full of denial , I hid the truth from myself for years and avoided hearing it like the plaque .

It took that encounter for me to see the truth . 

Again just days after that incident I had more confirmation that quitting was seriously something I had to do .

I believe God puts people in our paths for a reason and I was about to have my second encounter as I went for yet more tests at the hospital .

As I entered the hospital Sunday , a lady was standing in the corner of a hospital waiting room; her face was disfigured and no one talked to her . She seemed uncomfortable with the stares and I could see her appearance was making people uneasy . She came and sat beside me .

We immediately struck up conversation . We both seemed comfortable and I asked her what had happened . My first thoughts were that she had been in an horrendous car accident .

I listened to her story as she shared with me what SMOKING had done…..how many surgeries she had had to reconstruct her face and what she was was still facing .

She asked me to please quit ; her eyes were caring, loving, and pleading, and I looked at her and said I would .
The willingness she had and how hard it must have been to share her pain and her story helped me to look at my denial again and see the truth .

These women saved my life. It was no coincidence that my appointments were those days and those two women put in my path . Today I am now 9 years and 6 months quit . Was quitting easy in the beginning , NO , it was hard for me , very hard but I stuck it out to get through . I took smoking off the table as an option to " be a cure" and saw nothing but black thick tar . I threw out any cigarettes I had or bought ,there after . 

Newcomers , I'm glad you are here . You've made the right choice . 

Don’t wait until you get bad news , don’t wait thinking it won’t happen to you or until it does happen to you . Don’t wait for the final straw where you have no choice !

Right now you can choose life  and you can choose to quit and stay quit even the very first try but If at first you don't succeed never quit looking for this freedom because I can tell you , smoking isnt worth it compared to the freedom you will receive if you have patience and just take it day by day . 

I've never forgotten the fear or the anxiety and doubt of my first day or weeks following or my  first year anniversary . I've never forgotten how breathing was so different , how looking in the mirror was different . I didn't an addict anymore I saw an overcomer of addiction . You will too . 

It is worth every tear , every crave not to be a slave . Every little ah ha moment is a moment to celebrate . You can choose never to smoke again every time a crave overwhelms you , now you have control ! You have your power back . 

To the two women (God knows )  I never got their name , thank you for your honesty and for sharing with me your story . You will never know now but you saved my life and I wanted to share your story with others here and every New Years to come in hopes it will save others . 

Not long after  , I got my diagnosis .