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Share your quitting journey

Willpower 62/90

PastTense
Member
4 6 131

It’s no secret I have been working on my quit for a very long time. In one form or another; I have been thinking about, planning for, passively working, or actively working on quitting for the better part of 16 years. As a closet smoker, I was always wished I was a non-smoker but was never willing to go through the effort to get there.

Being willing to make changes and keep trying is far more important to a successful quit than sheer willpower. Let me be clear; there are those shining examples of people who threw away their smokes, said “NOPE – Not One Puff Ever”! and then proceeded to live their lives as a non-smoker. I applaud them but I’m not them. I am speaking to all the rest of us other folks with have no perceptible willpower.

I have been working on this quit since March of 2019. My track record for not smoking was, frankly, terrible. However, I was committed to quitting. Every time I fell off the horse, I got back on again. Sometimes, it was just as habit. Other times, I actually thought about where the quit failed and why it failed. I considered what led up to failure and what I could have/should have done differently to prevent it. I had to finally have a conversation with myself about how much fun I was having in withdrawal for 9 months. I had to be willing to keep at it until I put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

I think we lose more people than we can count to a failure of willpower. Quitting without willpower requires tools and the willingness to learn to use those tools to quit smoking. Tools like pledging every day, or mindful breathing, or messaging the Ex community when the cravings get too strong. For me; the tools include 90 posts in 90 days.

For me; quitting means keeping the quit until I’m quit

Keep the quit

PT

23 days

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