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Enjoy a Smoke-Free Thanksgiving

Dr_Hurt
Mayo Clinic
0 3 66

Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate the gifts and blessings that we may take for granted throughout the year.  It can be a wonderful time to give thanks for our health.  You can use this time of being thankful for so many things, to commend yourself for having become smoke-free, or to make a commitment to stopping smoking.  There is no one thing that a person can do that provides a greater benefit to health than stopping smoking.

There are a lot of “firsts” that go along with stopping smoking.  If this is your “first” Thanksgiving without lighting up, take a few moments to appreciate this wonderful accomplishment.  Let your family and friends know so that they can join in the festivities of your first smoke free Thanksgiving.  If it is your second, third, or twenty first Thanksgiving without smoking, take a moment to appreciate the breath you take, the money you’ve saved, the health you’ve gained, and the freedom you have achieved.

If you are still smoking, take a moment to appreciate your family and friends, and make a commitment to yourself, that next Thanksgiving you will be smoke-free.  Don’t worry too much about the ‘how to’ but focus on that smoke-free future.  Take a moment to appreciate how wonderful it will be.  Then make a commitment to use whatever tools are available to you and develop a plan to make smoking history.  You can do it!

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About the Author
Retired in 2014. Dr. Richard D. Hurt is an internationally recognized expert on tobacco dependence. A native of Murray, Kentucky, he joined Mayo Clinic in 1976 and is now a Professor of Medicine at its College of Medicine. In 1988, he founded the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center and since then its staff has treated more than 50,000 patients for tobacco dependence.