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Share your quitting journey

FEAR

AnnetteMM
Member
7 16 212

Fear is normal. Fear tells us about danger and informs our choices. It's the emotion I see expressed most often here. And  it makes perfect sense.

Why quit smoking? Because we fear the consequences of not quitting, to be perfectly honest. We've known all the positives of quitting all our lives. Didn't matter.  It was fear that motivated us to change.

Fear of loss of our health, our teeth, our lungs, our family and our money. Fear that our health insurance and our life insurance might cost too much. Fear of going anywhere because we can't smoke there. Fear of running out of cigarettes. Being sick and tired of FEAR.

And now there's the fear of quitting on top of the fear of not quitting. Fear on Fear.

It can be paralyzing.  We flail around for help like we're drowning and we need an anchor, because we ARE drowning and we DO need an anchor. It's not your imagination. It's why you came here.

So talk about fear. It's okay, we get it. Fear makes sense in order to change. Just don't stay there. Because in order to make the change you want, you need courage. Courage is moving forward through fear. 

There's a fog in front of you. You can't see the other side of it. Start walking anyway.

16 Comments
About the Author
I became nicotine-free on Christmas Day 2017. That's what I use as my quit date. I had smoked cigarettes for 45 years, then vaped Juuls for a few months before quitting cold turkey when I used up my supply of pods. I am a retired widow, living in Upstate NY.