Hello all of you wonderful and committed people! It’s been awhile since I last blogged here, but I ran into a little blast from the past last night. It consisted of two straws. Both cut a little short. One intact and one with the end chewed on. One might find it strange that something like this would remind me of all of you, but in reality to me, it was wonderful to see for several reasons.
You see, five and a half years ago I chose to claim my freedom from the addiction of cigarettes. I knew it would be hard and feared perhaps another failure, not that I’d really tried to quit but rather fantasized about how good it would feel to be free. Of how wonderful it would be to no longer wonder just how lousy my future would be if I didn’t quit. Of wondering just what I was doing to my body as I continued to feed it the two headed snake, one head being the addiction and the other being what that addiction was doing to my health.
To make a long story short, I chose to change my entire life on Feb. 20, over five years ago. I’d only really tried to quit one time before and using the patches, I did manage to quit for a year, though for six months of that time I was addicted to the patches.
I took up smoking again for quite a few years and then one day made the necessary commitment to myself. I again used the patches but vowed that in this quit I would only do the recommended six week course of treatment. I prepared for months, trying to learn my addiction in order to win forever this time around.
And I actually took that first hard step one day. Now, at first I consumed so much food that was not good for me at all, but I didn’t care! Anything to keep me from starting again was OK with me. Now comes the straws. Eventually for some reason Dale (jonescarp) told me in as reply to a blog that I might as well be smoking air, though I no longer remember what he was replying to.
I took this message to heart in a strange way. I bought a pack of straws and cut them to a length that fit into my pocket. Rather than consuming tons of food, I started using these straws and yes, smoking air. Somehow this helped me to keep a grip on my addiction. I used them for some time, realizing that it was going to be much easier to quit smoking air than it was for the cigarettes.
And I must say, though the entire experience was hard, it was well worth the benefits! I find life to be so much more enriched, even as I battle with mild COPD that developed some time after I quit. I consider myself to be lucky in my new life. I really only feel symptoms of COPD when I catch a cold, and though it becomes a fight for a while, I get so much good health in between those bouts. So yes, I’m incredibly happy to live this new life.
My heart goes out to all of you who still must struggle to win a new life. If you can just take that first step, then there’s so much life still to live in freedom! There’s a future out there that is incredible! And yes, every day that you wake up free, is a day to smile. A new day of achievement! Yet another day to be true to oneself. And when we wake up free of the worries of what we’re doing to ourselves, we just end up with a new spring in our steps. An awareness of just how wonderful the life is that we chose to fight for really is.
So fight on my friends! Do what you have to do to win and one day you too will wake up to a new day with that smile not only on your face but with a happiness and confidence in yourself that reaches all the way to the soul.
I’m kind of a transient blogger here, though I think of all of you often. I will be in touch again for a while!
ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!
Chuck
