Share your quitting journey
I know I haven't been here for over 7 months, but I am still hanging in there. I love when I come back after a long time to see all the new members, early in their quits. You are all potential six percenters!
Many of the elders will recognize me, because 998 days ago I was on day 1. This site helped me get here. I am not an active member, but I am certain that if it weren't for what I learned here, I probably would have relapsed by now.
I just turned 21 on February 27th, so I am way outside of the usual demographic here. I had been smoking for 5 (or 6?) years and quit months after I turned 18, because I didn't want to be trapped for life. I was about to move for the first time in my life for college, and it was a great excuse for me to kick the addiction. I firmly believe that distancing myself from my daily routine I had developed really helped me keep my quit during the hardest part of it.
I was not a smoker for very long, but at the time I had been smoking for almost a third of my entire life, so it was difficult to imagine my life without cigarettes. I was scared that I wouldn't know what to do without them, but I had no reason to be. I didn't give anything up when I quit; It only got better from there. Do I still have struggles every once in awhile? Yes. I almost feel like it gets harder the more complacent you get in your quit. Don't let that scare you away - the truth is, you are more than a smoker, I am more than an ex-smoker. I am a daughter, a girlfriend, an owner to a dog, two guinea pigs and a tortoise, an animal activist, a photographer, a nature lover, someone who dreams of having her own tiny house and traveling the world, a person of depth an emotion who is much more complex and individual than just an ex nicotine addict.
So is it difficult sometimes, almost 1000 days into a quit? Yes, at times. But it isn't that one dimensional. In fact, it is only here I am really known as an ex smoker. No one I know in person ever looks at me and thinks, "she used to be a smoker". There is a lot more to me and to my life. It can be hard, but most of the time I am not thinking about it, I am busy living my life of freedom.
I am no longer a slave.
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