Permission: The right or ability to do something that is given by someone who has the power to decide if it will be allowed or permitted.
Let's apply that to smoking or I should say the ACT of smoking. Many people still think of smoking itself as a habit and only a habit. Oh, I can stop anytime I want to. It wasn't that hard. I just put down the pack and that was it. How many times have you heard that in your lifetime? I've heard so many stories in my lifetime because I was searching for the lasting quit, the answer. It's got to be out there somewhere. There's always an answer to every question, but is there? Is there really a cookie-cutter solution, this whole quitting thing?
I was at the grocery store the other day. I have my most amazing realizations when I'm shopping for food. The last one was when I ran into someone telling me that they recently quit smoking because his wife was diagnosed with COPD. That spawned the blog While walking through the park one day.... This latest blog here was inspired by checking out at Walmart and just making small talk about some yarn I was buying. The woman checking me out and the woman behind me had 7 years and 10 years respectfully quit. It felt good to be congratulating each other on a goal accomplished, a foe defeated. We were proud and it showed.
Going through the exit to my car, you can smell the stale smoke. Someone must have just finished a cigarette. On my way home hitting every single red light there was, I was thinking to myself why do people go back to smoking after being quit for so long? Why did they allow themselves that permission to return back to the habit when they know they have a problem with nicotine? Why was it so easy to simply allow themselves that right? Is it easier the second time around to quit? Is that the reason why? I know in my situation I wouldn't want to test those waters, test the theory that oh, it gets easier the second time around. What is so bad about feeling an emotion or facing a situation or saying what you feel that is so difficult? Some of us, myself included, used smoking as a means to stuff down an emotion, stifle a feeling, an excuse to remove myself from something that I did not want to deal with.
I think what stops me in my tracks when something comes up that is unexpected, that is unforeseen, smoking may pop in my head, I think to myself this is just part of life, nothing you can do can change that. What you can do is see the situation for what it is, accept it for how it is and either problem solve if necessary and move on. Life evolves whether you're smoking or not. The sun rises and sets whether you're smoking or not. Life's problems are going to pop up out of the blue whether you're smoking or not. Giving yourself that permission to act on something that you know is going to travel you down that slippery slope is of your own choosing. Only you can make that decision. And it is a decision, a conscious decision.
Next time when that thought floats around in your brain, ask yourself is it worth the price of throwing it all away or is it just easier to make the decision to deal with it head on? Give yourself that right. Allow yourself to take charge. You have the power. Make the right choice. That's all it really is. Make a stand and say I don't do that anymore. That's not part of who I am any longer. That, my friends, is the secret to a forever quit, a lasting quit. I'd like to wish each and every one of you a blessed Thanksgiving tomorrow, 11/23/17.
