Hello all,
Sorry I’ve been absent as of late. Things are going fine. I just had to get caught up on all of the things I put off while my daughter was missing and of course get the gardens in order. Now that this is done, it’s time to start a string of houses that we have pending right now. The money’s always nice but the problem is I first have to work to get it!
Spring always reminds me of new life, or rather a new beginning and summer is a time to see the growth take place after the renewing of spring. I always think of my quit in the spring. I still remember the original trials that we must face at first but what really sticks in my mind is the renewal of my life when I quit smoking.
As a smoker, I was completely consumed by my addiction. If I wasn’t smoking, then I was thinking about the next time that I could. Now when I could smoke, well, you’ve heard of the chimney, right? That was me. A totally addicted person doing what addicts do. Spending the day feeding my addiction.
When the light of reality finally crept into my mind; you know, the part where you find yourself on the outside looking in and seeing a child that needs to know something. A child slowly grasping the reality of addiction.
I really wasn’t surprised when I realized I was an addict. I mean, somewhere buried deep within our addiction is the reality of what it really is. And to be honest, the reality of addiction is just plain ugly!
For me, it was a shock at first for in making my addiction as strong as possible, I learned to ignore reality simply because as a smoker, reality can be kind of scary. After all, feeding an addiction simply means wasting time. It means taking the time to nurture that addiction. To make it a part of us once and for all because the alternative is hard. Facing the reality of addiction is hard. Understanding that we are addicts is hard.
But once we get past the hard part and understand that all we ever really wanted in our lives was happiness, we find ourselves longing to find the true happiness that lives in the world rather than living the lies of addiction. We long to see our world like those who have never faced addiction see it.
And at first, we wonder what it could be like if we could just face the reality that is our addiction. If we could just remove all the lies of our past and make ourselves whole again in our perception of reality.
This is why quitting reminds me of spring for you see, once the cloud of addiction is lifted. Once your mind can perceive the world as it really is, then change happens! Growth happens!! We begin to long to be free more than anything we ever wanted before. All we have to do is take that first step into our shiny world of reality where our freedom lies.
Never for a moment think it’s not worth the hardships that come with quitting. Never believe that you can’t achieve that goal and step into a world that you never knew existed! I’ve never even for a single moment regretted my decision to quit.
Instead, I find myself smiling a lot more. I find myself dealing with life’s problems head on because I no longer have to first light a cigarette to think about that problem before I can act on it. And with every breath I take, I find happiness in the fact that these breaths are pure.
Sure, it’s hard at first. Change always is. That’s why we fear quitting. Simply because it’s a change from what we’ve always told ourselves was normal.
You’ll never regret taking that first step. Your future awaits you! Go for it! Make that future amazing!!
ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!
Chuck
