~~Say what's real. Do what's right.~~ Unknown
I have a friend here who is quitting. So excited for her!! I want her to succeed just as I want all quitters to succeed. Maybe too much. My therapist friend tells me all the time to not work harder than the person who is supposed to be doing the work.
Interesting, huh? She went on to explain that when she gives 150% to a client and they only give 30%, she is 120% more invested in their recovery than they are and that is not good for either one of them.
I took her advice at work.
But do I do that here? I am trying to keep it real in this post, so I have to say no, I don't. While I may be supportive, I don't know that I truly listen and help quitters work their quits. And am I brutally honest? Nah. So, here it goes.....
Quitting is a journey that mimics life...it has ups and downs, good and bad. But if you continue your quitting journey, you will find as time goes on that it gets easier, better, and more natural to not smoke.
But expecting immediate results just because you decide you have quit is setting yourself up for failure. You will not feel better immediately. But you will be healing whether you feel the results or not. Your body is frantically working to repair the damage that smoking has caused. Give it time!! Your body is a remarkable miracle that knows how to heal itself but it needs the time to do it. When you smoke after quitting, you not only face day one again of a quit, your body has to start all over as well. Know this and acknowledge it!!
If you decide to smoke after a quit, you are putting your body through hell all over again. It gets tired. It gets ill. It cannot forever repair the damage that smoking does. Be aware and stop NOT thinking of it. When you puff, understand that you are the one damaging your body's ability to repair itself.
You cannot "slip" when you quit. If you smoke, you are making an adult decision. Acknowledge it as such. No "oops!" moment. You made a conscious choice so be adult enough to admit it. The more you make conscious choices, you see, the less likely it will be that you make poor ones.
Put more into your quit than anyone else puts into it. It's yours. Nurture it, cherish it, and for goodness sake, learn to love it!! What a wonderful gift you have given yourself, even when it feels like a curse. Your emotions are rising from the smoke induced grave....they may be uncomfortable to you, but give yourself time to get used to them 🙂
All in all, quitting is the highest high and the lowest low you can get. As you recover, you will feel every emotion under the sun and the strength and intensity of these emotions can scare the bejeezes out of you. But the world becomes a much brighter place and you become a much better person.
Be real with yourself and do what's right. Give it 150% because it's yours and you deserve the best 🙂
