Hello! I've decided to quit smoking and am going to need all the support I can get! Here's a little background...
I am an army wife and a new mother of 1 beautiful 7 month old daughter. My husband and I have been together for 7 years, both smoking years before we met. I personally have been smoking for around 10 years give or take, I'm 23, and have experienced an array of huge life changes in the past 7 months. 8/31 our daughter was born by emergency cesarean. 9/4 my husband left for basic training. We quit smoking last year on 2/20 because I found out I was pregnant. Since it was no longer just my body, I felt a strong need to quit. And he was my biggest supporter.
Fast forward to 11/16. Family day for my husband, I travelled from Oregon to Georgia to spend a couple of days with him. I had a cab driver that smoked in the cab, and immediately felt myself wanting to smoke. I curbed it because my husband was not smoking and it gave me inspiration (plus it was against the rules for him to use any tobacco during basic training). But once I got home, I began smoking again. Very slow at first, only 5 or 6 cigarettes a day. Once he got out of basic and stationed in Louisiana (where we live now) he began smoking again. I've never lived anywhere but my hometown and smoking seemed to curb the intensity of the culture shock, or so I thought. And having an infant who I'm basically alone with 24/7 with limited breaks, because the Army has my husband for weeks sometimes a month at a time, I feel the only real time I have to myself is the 10 minute maximum time I take to smoke a cigarette. I know I could be doing other, more productive activities with that 10 minutes. But the cigarette craving and convenience at the time is stronger than my want to do those other, more productive activities. I feel lazy at times, also like I'm throwing my life away because I could be focusing on a talent or hobby. I give literally all of my time making sure my daughter is taken care of and happy, and to my husband who works so hard to provide the life we deserve, the life we've always dreamed of having (since we were in the beginning of our relationship) and he deserves to come home to a happy, clean home. I need support, I have a killer support system don't get me wrong. But I need support when everyone else is busy with their own lives. I need to find inner strength and will power to just say no. I need to take care of myself without feeling that cigarettes are my only option for a bit of relaxation. I've gone through my triggers and ways to defeat them on this site, and I'm pretty positive I can make them work to my advantage. But as you all know, it's a lot easier said than done. If you've gotten all the way through this, I want to say thank you so much for taking the time to read it and really appreciate any advice, help, or even just positive words you may have to help get me through this. This is for me, my family, and our future. Have a blessed day, and keep up the great work!!
