Often in my quit, I used visualization to keep me focused on the task at hand. As I got closer and closer to the day of my quit, I visualized a tall mountain that I named Mt. Freedom. For me, it made it easier to get my mind to stay focused, even as it argued with itself.
I remember on the first day of my quit, I saw myself standing on the trailhead. I looked up to that peak and it looked so very far away! I took a deep breath, both in my vision and in reality and put out that last cigarette, and with it I took the first step on the road to freedom.
At first my steps were cautious as I entered a new chapter in my life. After a day I looked up and the summit was still so ever far away, but now I could also look back on the trail and see that even though it didn’t feel like it, there was progress.
As I continued on with each step taking me ever closer to my goal, I realized that though it was a long journey that with each step I took, my confidence increased. Each step showed me the way to the next one, and I realized that a quit is never a single event. No, just like when we created our addiction one step at a time, so too do we have to destroy the addiction one step at a time.
We must be willing to scratch and fight our way up the mountain to find the freedom that awaits us. I did make it to the summit of that amazing mountain and I look down the slopes daily, hoping to be able to throw someone a rope, or lifeline to help them along the way just as those before me chose to throw me that line.
Though at times it may seem like we’re just trudging along and not really getting anywhere, or rather feeling any better. Never be afraid to look how far you’ve come. Sometimes looking to the beginning can remind us of why we chose the path to freedom in the first place. It can remind us of all those reasons we chose to travel a road that needed to be travelled.
We control our destinies one step at a time and each step that we take now will be felt in the wonderful future that you’re creating with every day that you stay on the path . Never doubt that you can’t do this. Every one of us has the answer of how to gain our freedom inside of us. We just have to find that glimmer of hope that yes, we can win and grab hold of that hope, turning into the reality that is nothing short of incredible.
Never doubt that you’re doing the right thing. Never for a moment think that you can’t do the right thing, and turn that thought of a quit into a reality that belongs to you, and you alone. I look forward to seeing each and every one of you on the summit, waving the banner of freedom proudly for all to see!
And to think, it all started with that first step and a desire to see a new and wonderful reality. It’s waiting for you. All you have to do is stay on the path . . .
ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!
Chuck
