So - you're gonna quit New Year's Day. Make a new start, eh? Good. Go for it! Know that you CAN do it, you don't have to be someone special, someone with supernatural powers, you just have to be willing to hang in as long as it takes to be free and be willing to accept the slings and arrows of the process.
But if this is just a quickie New Year's Resolution, a spur of the moment "I'm gonna quit smoking" thing that you haven't given much thought to, nor spent much of your focus nor energies on, nor done any homework, nor set a plan for yourself, you can be pretty sure that it will be short lived. New Year's resolutions are great things the night before. Not so exciting the following morning.
Quitting smoking takes work. Period. I'll repeat that, just in case you didn't get it. Quitting smoking TAKES WORK. I wish I could tell you otherwise. That you put down the smokes and forget about them in three magical days. Or, you ingest some happy drug and all those cravings instantly disappear forever. But I'd be lying to you if I told you that.
The truth is - quitting is hard. HOW hard depends on where you put your head and what kind of mental preparation you've done for those rough times that are guaranteed to come along. Reach out for help when you need it. For there are a whole bunch of supporters along the Ex sidelines handing you bottles of wisdom water and cheering you on. If you haven’t done your prep work for the marathon ahead, it's not too late. Educate yourself about the process, starting now. Read everything you can on here. And practice every precaution. For every piece of wisdom is another port of hydration in your thirsty journey.
The only way you fail in this race is if you give up before completing it. There are those who have stumbled and fallen on their faces more than once, and gotten up and made their way to the finish line. Even if they had to crawl through the humiliation of a relapse. The finish line is “quitting smoking for good.” But I call the finish line ‘freedom from cravings.’ Freedom from the desire to smoke. Putting down a cigarette for the rest of you life is one thing. Not wanting one - is another. And that psychology takes time. For quitting is an ongoing process. You don't suddenly awaken one morning and "snap" all cravings are gone. When you're crossing a time line or the Continental Divide, you don't immediately feel different upon reaching the other side. It's only when you've been in the neighborhood and experienced the landscape for a while that you then realize what has changed.
So it's not enough to just start your journey the first day of the new year. Your resolution has to be to stick with it until you fly free of the wanting. You'll know in your heart when you get there. For there will never be any more doubts about you smoking. The option to do so in your mind will no longer exist.
I'm approaching five years. And I fly freer with each year, but don't feel I've crossed the finish line yet. For I still doubt that I'm impervious to a relapse given the right circumstances. I've seen too many return to the clipped wings of a Day One. But your story might be different and your finish line might come sooner than you think.
Let your higher natures shine forth. The best part of you is that inner friend who is spurring you on and never quits. The one whispering in your ear right now "You can do this, you know you can." I know you can. 'Cause I did. And Peggy did, and Kellie did, and Papa Jimmy did, and Claudia did, and Thomas did, and Dale did, and Carenda did, and Chuck did and Char did, and JoAnne did, and Bob and Sandi and Carole and Legend and HWC and.....add your name my friends (and add your quit time) and show the soon-to-be ex smokers how possible it is! Thanks to all who have shared this journey.
Cheering you on from the bleachers with love for a Happy and above all, Healthy, New Year. *****AND FOR ALL OF YOU CELEBRATING YOUR ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT - THERE ARE SPECIAL FIREWORKS RAZZLE DAZZLING THE NIGHT SKY IN YOUR HONOR.*****
Giulia - (4 years, 9 mos, 30 days and counting.....) Written Dec. 31, 2010
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Addendum: Interesting - I'm just re-reading this now 2/3/21, eleven years later, a month before my 15th Year quit anniversary . My opinions in this blog haven't changed. Except "I still doubt that I'm impervious to a relapse given the right circumstances." I have a lot less doubt now!
