Growing up, I didn’t have much. Only child of a single mom that worked 2-3 Jobs just to keep bread on the table and support her cigarette addiction. She would always say “you can smoke when you get older” when I asked her about cigarettes as a tike. A little while down the road I moved in with my dad because of living situation issues and he’s also a smoker. Him and his wife glorified smoking and only spoke of benifits. One day I was out fishing with my friends at the age of 17 and a buddy brought some black and milds. We smoked the whole pack that day. As time went by I was smoking 1-2 cigarettes a day in my room, hanging out the window until my dad caught me and didn’t care, “just not in the house” he said. Then it turned into a pack a day and I openly started smoking in public etc at the age of 17.
fast forward. I’m 25 now. I’m no longer in poverty. I have a well paying job, own a home, a wife and 2 kids under the age of 2. My almost-2 year old looks at me so highly. I am his role model and he does and says everything that I do. One day he picked up a pen and held it to his mouth like he was smoking. I cried for hours thinking that my influence was the same as my parents. That was the day I quit.
Just a reminder to remember why you’re quitting. And always keep that reason close to
you at all times.
