First a hello and how the heck are ya... It's been a while since there has been time to stop by. I hope this finds you well on your way to freedom. 🙂
One of those major life things happened yesterday and it's been a rough 24 hours.
I sat at the deathbed of a family member yesterday, a 46 year old man with congenital heart disease who smoked his entire adult life. We (his Mom and I) watched over him as he struggled to breathe after taking him off the breathing machine that was keeping him alive. The heart attack he had late morning yesterday had him flatlined before the paramedics got there. The lack of oxygen to his brain ultimately was the reason he was unplugged. It was very challenging day for all of us.
Aside from this, I won't go into the rest of it, because it's still fresh and painful. But there is an unexpected lesson in this.
On the way to the hospital, my daughter and I stopped at the convenience store for food and snacks to take along. Next to the fountain drink, random snack items and M&M's I grabbed a package of Sour Skittles. With the same intensity I used to have nearly 4 years ago looking for a pack of cigarettes.
For 4 years, whenever I have one of those "I can't handle this right now, I need something to soothe me" it's been sour candy, not cigarettes that came into my hands.
The reason for this is simple. Sour candies and cigarettes taste like a$$ together. Gives me shudders to even think about having both at the same time. So the sours became a habit when the urge to smoke used to blindside me (romancing the cigarette).
It was automatic, natural to reach for a bag of sour skittles. Smoking never entered my mind. That is the power of habit. 🙂
God bless.
