cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Share your quitting journey

Letting Go of the Struggle

SimplySheri
Member
4 3 93

~~Today I want you to ask yourself this one question.  "Why not you?"  Why not you to do something for work that you love?  Why not you to have a healthy body?  Why not you to have healthy love?  Why not you to be, have, or do anything you have ever dreamed?!  We are so quick to think others are deserving over ourselves.  The truth is that we are all deserving so why not you?! ~~  Jillian Michaels

Ok, I'll admit it.  I used to be jealous of the Dales and the Giulias and the Sooties on this site....they quit and seemed so settled into their quits that you could tell they wouldn't smoke again.  I wasn't like that.  I battled my addiction like a dog with a bone....I held on to the struggle, not the quit.  So why could they do it????  How did they do it????  And why couldn't I????

There was the answer in those same three words.....why couldn't I?  But instead of saying them with a negative, dejected, defeatist point of view, I simply had to say those same words in a different way....a positive, hopeful kind of way.  Why couldn't I?  Why couldn't I have what they had?  Why couldn't I enjoy the freedom of quitting?  Why couldn't I do what others do each and every day...quit smoking.

There was no reason I couldn't.  I wasn't doomed to my addiction for all eternity.  I wasn't any less than.  I wasn't weaker or more fragile or unable.  Quite the opposite, in fact   I was strong, capable, intelligent, and able.

And so are you, my smoking friend.  So are you.

Allow your inner warrior to take over.  Allow your courage to break free.  Allow your strength to hold you up.  Allow your intelligence to guide you.  And in all of that, know that you can.  Squash that little addict voice in you that doubts.  Push aside those nagging little hesitancies.  Ignore the fear that's trying to slow you down.  Fear is temporary while regrets are forever. 

Instead, hold on to that spark of hope that you can, indeed, quit.  Turn towards that light at the end of the tunnel and let it slowly warm you as you move forward.  Every day, every hour, every minute that you don't smoke you've gained freedom.  It's not a battle, it's simply a journey.  Stormy at times but life itself gets stormy and we don't quit that now, do we?  We get through it by getting through it.

Ultimately, why not you?  There is no reason other than your addiction trying to stop you.  Don't let it.  Recognize what it is and then gently leave it in the past as you move forward.  No need to battle it.  No need to fear it.  No need to hate it.  It simply isn't who you are any more.  Don't give it power.  Don't give it life.  Accept that quitting brings addiction and freedom together for a brief time before one dies out while the other flourishes on.  You get to decide which does what

3 Comments