~~Bad news is:
You cannot make people like, love, understand, validate, accept or be nice to you. You can't control them, either.
Good news is:
It doesn't matter.~~ Unknown
So quitting smoking is simply a part of life. A journey. One step in front of another until you reach a place that is more of a clearing rather than a jungle. You can see more, you can get a grasp of where you are at...and it's better. Then, as another life challenge happens, you plunge back into the jungle, wiser and refreshed enough to move forward once again.
Most of our lives are kind of like that, right? Heartache happens. Joys. Friendships form and others break. So much of it we can't control so we learn to veer slightly to the left and keep going until we see the clearing up ahead. A time for rest, reflection, and respite before our journey again leads us back into another unknown pathway.
Such is my life, anyway. Adventures galore, some wanted while others were reluctantly accepted. Some chosen, others uncontrollable. And it took a friend here to remind me that my adventures here were not, in fact, completed.
I've been writing on this site for 7 years. Words are extremely important to me and people are extremely important to me so I thought together they worked well here. I love so many people here!! And my posts are often written in the hopes of reaching those I don't even know because everyone deserves to live smoke free. But I have had some problems with another quitter that made me so uncomfortable, I decided to quit posting. Sometimes it's better to walk away to save your sanity than try to convince another person that you mean no harm. Another life lesson that actually works 
I even missed celebrating my 7 year anniversary here because I didn't want conflict here on the posts or through private messages.
But a friend told me she missed me. And that led me out of the jungle into my clearing. I missed her. I missed the sense of family I had here. I missed the lessons learned, the laughs shared, the wisdom gained. And all that is on me, not the person who so criticized me. What a lesson learned. Sometimes we are our own worse enemies even though we may not realize it in the midst of fighting through the jungle.
Thank you, Christine13, for leading me out of my jungle path Life is too short, too precious, to much fun to be avoided because of the words of another. Quits can be hard, life can be hard. But if you build a support system of people who care about you, it makes the hard times better. And if you are lucky enough to find people who enjoy your company, faults and all, never let them go for they make life worth living.
May you all have a day filled with blessings you call friends,
Sheri
