I quit smoking the day after
Christmas 2006. I've smoked for fourteen years and I hate the
fact that I was killing myself. I tried so many techniques.
Patch, gum, acupuncture, everything. My job wasn't making it
easy either. My plan was to quit on Jan. 1, 2007, but i
thought giving myself a week in advance would help a bit. I
woke up that morning and said to myself that this will be a new day.
I decided to do something different to keep my mind busy. I
wanted to change my way of living. I went to the co-op,
purchased some organic fruits and vegs, vitamins, and even tofu.
I picked up some reading material on Deepak Chopra, and yoga DVD's.
I went down to the desert hills and hit some trails on my mountain
bike. I kept coughing up some nasty stuff as I rode. I
was really hard for the first week. I've been there before but
I really had to fill that emptiness with something good. I
would tell myself how better I'm feeling, how my skin is
looking tighter, how I smell fresh and clean, and how I'm not going
to die to a filthy stick. Why should I be a prisoner to
someone who is making billions of dollars to make people sick.
I'm fed up! This time I'm taking control. I'm making that
decision to live. It's a fight, but I'm doing it with no pills
or patches. Just will power and an everyday reminder. You can
dot it. Just believe in yourself and tell yourself that you
will skip that smoke for just today. Just one day at a time.
And when you feel that urge, and you start to get cranky and ugly.
Allow yourself to be angry, but be angry at what it's doing to you.
Be mad at that and in a few minutes you'll see that the craving
wasn't such a big deal after all. If you have to let go of
having a cocktail or beer for a few months so you won't fail, then
don't drink. Whatever was associated with a smoke let it go
too. That always made me weak. Now I haven't had a drink
in almost three weeks either. It's amazing how a little box of
smokes can have on a person. It's really a ball and chain.
But I believe it can be broken.
