~~You can't hide from your inner sh*t. Nope. You can't sleep it off. You can't surgically remove it. You can't eat/buy/wish/exercise it away. You have to turn towards it and embrace it. Look into its eyes. Be patient and so gentle. Then get intimate with it until it shows you another way, a different you.~~ Unknown
Perfection isn't possible. Life can be messy regardless of how we try to control it. People leave us. The world continues to turn. We say something we shouldn't or we feel something we don't want to feel or try as we might, we can't conquer that fear that we aren't enough.
I was never told when I was growing up that it was ok to fail. Straight A's were expected. To be seen and not heard was never said but always there. Every flaw I had and every mistake I made had me beating myself up so badly that I wished I was invisible.
I continued to live because that's the way of the world. But the helplessness and often the hopelessness I felt left me vulnerable to the takers of the world. You know, the ones who prey upon the weak.
Quitting smoking changed all that. I could no longer hide from my inner sh*t. I had to figure things out because the only way I knew to hide was to smoke....and that was no longer an option. So I did the work. I forgave myself for ever thinking I was less than. I began to see that my flaws and my mistakes were simply as much a part of who I am as was the good parts. I took care of that little girl in me who had no one else. And I healed and I grew and I loved myself and it showed me a different me.
Now many, many quitters may not need that kind of inner work and I believe that is wonderful!!! Many of you may have smoked because it was a habit that you just had to break. And you definitely can!! But what are you going to do to fill your time now? What holds your interest? What are you good at? What makes you forget the time as you concentrate on it? Use your sense of self to create the quit of your dreams 
For those of you who do need to stop hiding from your inner sh*t, be patient and so gentle with yourself. Love yourself as you love your partner or your child or your best friend. Forgive yourself and honor yourself and humble yourself until all those parts of you that you thought you hated fully blossom. There is not one thing about yourself that cannot be loved into life. Truly.
Be your own hero. Save yourself not just from smoking related illnesses but also from the idea that you are unworthy of good. That you are somehow less than. That you are broken or bad or damaged. All those falsehoods that keep you from delighting in your life. Delighting in you.
Make yourself a priority and learn to embrace that inner sh*t. It'll show you another way....a different you. And that, my friend, is sheer imperfect perfection.
