Yesterday, 11/15/2020 was my eleventh anniversary of quitting smoking. As most of us do, I can honestly say that on that first day in 2009, I never thought I would see 11 years quit. As any new quitter soon discovers, looking down the years isn't really possible. We do this one minute (one second?) at a time.
May I just tell everyone......I am proud of my quit......happy that I made the decision.....so glad that I found all of you.
So, I find it INCREDIBLE that I did not even realize it was 11 years yesterday until I was at CVS and a gentleman asked me if I knew where the gum was for quitting smoking. I did not. He asked me if I smoked and at that very moment I realized what day it was AND what day it was! You see...being Sunday, I wasn't as aware of the actual date as I am during the work week. I told him no...I was not a smoker and as a matter of fact I was a quitter and had quit 11 years ago that very day. He looked at me as if he did not believe me (I didn't blame him!). He found a clerk who showed him the gum and I heard him telling her he was trying to quit. She wished him luck, he got in line, paid for his gum and left. I paid for my things and left. When I got outside, he was waiting and asked me if what I had said was true and I told him it was. LUCK was with me and I remembered I still had those EX cards Mark gave us in my purse. I got one out, gave it to him and after a short explanation of EX ( hard to carry on real conversations these days with the masks and the 6 feet) I invited him to the site and left.
Driving home I was again overwhelmed by the fact that I had not remembered my anniversary. I thought about the beginning where you counted every day and then that great FIRST YEAR MILESTONE! Do not misunderstand.......it is not that my quit is unimportant to me any longer.....it is and will always remain one of the most important things in my life. It is that freedom has become my way of life.....my normal.
It will be yours also if you just hang in there and keep counting AND CELEBRATING the days (minutes, seconds). Know now and always that you made one of the best decisions you have ever made in your life.
Stay Strong.
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