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Share your quitting journey

Of cages and dragons

Chuck-2-20-2011
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Good morning Exer's!!! Hope all is well. At times when we quit it can feel like we're in a cage. Sometimes it can even feel like we'll never get out of that cage. We can see that shiny new world that we want so badly through the bars but for some reason we just can't seem to find the door to it.

We feel like we're circling around the perimeter over and over, feeling the same things over and over and after a while we just get tired of staring through those darn bars! This is the physical cage of our addictions. The part where the body actually feels the true physical withdrawals. Over and over again on those first days we must feel the endless demands of the body as it longs for it's fix. And we have to say no over and over again until at last after about three days, we find the door.

Cautiously we step through it, wondering what will happen next. Sure, we've been told how the journey will be. We've even been told a seemingly thousand different ways to quit by what seems like a thousand different people. We felt as ready as we could be but the bottom line is that the withdrawals must be experienced before we truly understand them.

And so after a bit of time in the cage, we take yet another step on the road of life. Warily we look at our new smoke free world and in a way it looks so different. It looks so cold and colorless because of the loss. The stupid loss that we can't seem to shake the feeling of. As we take yet another step on the path to freedom we realize that the world hasn't changed at all. No, it was us that had changed. We're what makes the world look so different. And this realization actually adds a spring to our steps for you see, we now realize that we don't smoke anymore. We now understand that we're embarking on a new and wonderful path and there can be no stopping us now!!

And then we feel the first breath of the dragon. That evil creature who has moved inside of us and spread tentacles throughout not only our bodies but our very lives! The creature starts whispering to us as we continue walking the path. We try to ignore it but slowly the thoughts creep into our minds. The dragon uses the tentacles that it grew into us to try to sway our resolve. To make us feel like the path is so long and endless.

At times we might succumb to the endless whispering. We might actually give the whisper the power to ruin our day. To shake our resolve. We might pause for a moment on the path and take stock of just what we're listening to. We might listen just enough to understand that these endless thoughts are indeed the very essence of what we must destroy!

We find our weapons in various places along the path. Some are supplied by others and some we find within us. As we begin to understand our enemy, the weapons become real. And yet we wonder how to use these weapons for the dragon lives inside. The dragon has had a long time to prepare for this battle. We stand and wonder for a moment and then we step inside of ourselves and see the face of the dragon. The monster that is our addiction.

We draw our sword as the creature laughs at us, giving us pause. The sneer of the creature gives us the strength to swipe at it and we rip out the first tentacle of our addictions, causing the dragon to scream loudly at us. We take a step back and wonder if we can ever kill this nagging creature. We swipe again and another tentacle is ripped away. And then another and another.

The dragon is becoming weak now. The dragon has met it's match for you see, we didn't just come to fight the battle. We came to win the entire war!!

Though at times the struggle can seem so hard it might be that we just don't understand the nature of the struggle. It takes time to learn our personal dragon. It takes a resolve that has to come from deep inside of us. A will to change that which would ruin our future.

The rewards of the journey way outweigh the discomforts that we must face in order to be free.

Go for it! Your walking the walk of a winner! You are taking your life back and it all started way back on that first day when you thumbed your nose at the addiction and said I will live like this no more! I am ready to take my life back!! I am ready to defeat my addiction and nothing and I mean nothing can stop me!!

All it takes is a willingness to walk into a new and wonderful life. A willingness to achieve something wonderful and a willingness to fight for your life of freedom!!!

ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!

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