Good morning EXer’s!!
I hope all is well in your lives and your quits. There’s something amazing that happens when we quit smoking. Something that is almost invisible at first but still a thing that is yet another of the many gems we find along the path to freedom. A kind of determination that isn’t so much felt as lived. A stubborn sense that we will make it to the end and find that prize we all long to feel.
When we first see ourselves as nonsmokers in the minds eye, it can create a whirlwind of emotions within us. I know that the first time I thought of myself without those cigarettes, I felt fear. To me, this was irrational. Why would I fear such a positive step in my life? Really, the answer is quite simple. It’s fear of the unknown. Fear of just what might happen when we quit. And quite possibly a fear that we might not succeed. That we might give into the addiction before we can really become free.
It’s normal to fear the unknown. It’s just the way we’re wired but on the upside, if we fear that we might fail than at least we’re actually serious about taking that first step. Thing is, it doesn’t really have to be the unknown. Sure, we have to experience our withdrawals to really know how it feels but there’s so much knowledge out there and to ignore that knowledge would indeed be a deterrent to success I think. Preparing for that first day can really help us to cope with that first day or week or month.
But to take the plunge! To decide once and for all that freedom from addiction can be the only answer is the beginning of something amazing! It’s not the horrible thing that we all see it as at first. No, this is the beginning of a new life!
What amazed me most on that first day of my quit was how calm I was. I expected to be a basket case. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the easiest day I ever lived but it certainly wasn’t the hardest.
I’d prepared for this day and for some reason when it came I knew I was now living a dream and that the dream was freedom. Something I longed for. Something I’d actually planned for and rather than thinking it was going to be the worst day of my life, I found a kind of peace in the fact that I’d finally started. I’d finally found a way past my own crazy addicted thoughts and put out what I knew would be my last cigarette.
Of course we all know this is only the beginning of a long road. One that at first sparks confusion but at the same time a sense of pride because we’re doing what is right. We’re taking our lives back.
But I can also tell you something else. When you get past those few hard days and know that this quit really is going to happen, then it’s time to latch onto the pride that can only come from a winner. It’s time to create that new environment that will take us to the next plateau.
Each moment we live as a nonsmoker strengthens us to continue. Every urge and crave that we fight through helps us to get through the next one. And soon we can see through the cloud that has always been our addiction. We can cast off the past and look ahead to our bright future of freedom.
Oh yeah, it’s a fight. And it can be uncomfortable at times but so long as we can reach inside and find that powerful determination that we used to begin this fight, than we will succeed. So long as NO is the only answer to our addicted minds then we will win.
And in the end when our minds calm and we can see clearly through the mask of addiction we find that there’s something amazing waiting for us on the other side of this journey. There’s a kind of peace that an addicted mind can never feel. There’s a feeling of accomplishment and oh yes, there is that freedom. Something that I can’t wait for all of you to experience!
ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!
