3 years anniversary

[Daniela2016]

It’s coming up, the 11^th of March it’ll be 3 years since I took my last puff, hard to believe.

Was it easy?  When I try remembering the days I cried incessantly, or the many times I had to walk away from my work station, or change the focus of my mind onto something else, or the constant deep breathing till I felt dizzy, I would say, NO, it wasn’t.  However, these memories are fading away every day more and more.

And I was here, on EX, after the first month of struggling on my own.

And I asked for help, and listened, and learned something new every day.

The elders were always just a blog away, with advice, support, tough love, smiles, and encouragements.

About 6 months into the quit, my body started revolting against the new regimen, and started “bursting at the seams”: I was walking miles and miles, the knees started swelling, and hurting, to the point I had to call hubby to pick me up from one of the walks.  Then I developed Plantar fasciitis and paid a fortune for shoe inserts, but they helped!  After that I felt the heavy weight of depression, and many other symptoms no doctor was able to identify or link to any of the current conditions.  It took over 6 months to be diagnosed by an alternative medicine provider, as having Hashimoto’s.  This is not as uncommon as I thought; so many of us are suffering from auto-immune diseases.  But to me it was new, and it took a lot of adjusting to get the right HRT dosage and learn to live with that; that and a Fatty Liver (watch it, and know it: smoking is considered one of the causes of Fatty Liver of non-alcoholic origin), and Diabetes.  But I made it.

Speed forwarding to today, I stayed with EX, as a Big, Fat, Thank You for all which was handed to me in time of need, and as a warranty on my own smobriety.

I am still learning something every time I am connecting: about life, places, people, pets, gardening and art, love and respect, challenges and ways to face them, Gods and ways to connect with them.

EX changed my life for the better, in a way I did not even dare to hope more than 3 years ago!