Just thought I’d stop in. It’s been pretty good as of late. Urges are almost non-existent. I still get them if I have a beer just right at first but that one won’t give me a problem because I’ve dealt with that one since I started my quit.
Thing is, I still have many life events to go through as a nonsmoker. This is why I believe that the journey never really ends. But it does get easier. Rather then fighting a seemingly endless battle, it becomes more of a situation where we must always be watchful and aware of the addict within. We must know he’s there and yet we don’t have to dwell on him. We don’t have to give him any strength.
And when those phantom urges pop up in our lives, this is the time that we discover just how far we’ve come for you see, we no longer give those things any credibility. We really do learn to laugh at them simply because they aren’t important enough for us to ruin our lives over.
This is when we may not be out of the woods completely but we can begin trusting in our own ability to remain smoke free. We can indeed look down the slopes of Mt. Freedom and see the climb we just made. We can at last look to the past of smoking without fear of derailing our quits.
To me, I have found my peace. I have found what I knew would always be there. A kind of freedom not only from myself but also from the very idea that smoking is something I want to do for it is not. It no longer sounds appealing to me and it no longer carries that insane power that it used to carry over me.
So keep fighting! Never give up on your dream of freedom. Even if this is your first day on your quit, it’s still that much closer to the freedom you want so badly. Never for a moment believe that you can’t do this thing. The only enemy you really have is yourself at this point.
So nurture your quit. Treat it as a living thing like a flower living in the desert that needs your loving care. For our quits really are about life. They really are about our futures. They really are about a love that we have for our children and grand children, our wives and our parents, our friends and most of all ourselves.
And it’s about freedom. Freedom from ourselves. Freedom from an addiction. Freedom to start enjoying life in ways we never realized we could before! And I have to tell you, it feels good once you get there.
So fight through those urges. Fight through that first week. Make it to that first month where you still must fight but it does get noticeably easier. Then on to the second where you learn how to quiet the addict within. Then that third month where the realization sets in that yes, you really can do this!
And then the fourth month where it all starts to calm down. Where the brain quits trying to get you to smoke. This is the place where you become the master of your addiction. This is the time when we can start living life again and start to believe that we will never give into ourselves. This is the time when the urges become so seldom that they can surprise you when they do appear.
This is the time when you can trust yourself just a little more. But it never really ends. It just fades away . .
