~~Everyone has their own path. Walk yours with integrity and wish all others peace on their journey. When your paths merge, rejoice for their presence in your life. When the paths are separated, return to the wholeness of yourself, give thanks for the footprints left on your soul, and embrace the time to journey on your own.~~Unknown
So many of us wasted so much time searching for the 'perfect answer' to quitting. We mimicked what others did, we tried every 'miracle' cure, we read until our eyes hurt, looking....always looking....for the way to quit. And when others did and we didn't, our defeat was a heavy anchor on our hearts. Why???? Why could they quit and we are unable to???
The secret )which is no real secret at all) is that you are the only one who can quit for you. Right? And in quitting, you acknowledge that the only way through is to start. And it might get rough and it you might feel shaky, but it isn't going to get any easier waiting for another day. It won't get better by smoking that 'last' pack. You are not going to magically be done in a week, a month, a year. Your quit is going to start when you decide you won't smoke again no matter what is in store.
Quitting is as much a part of who you are as smoking used to be. It will be there when you are stressed. It will be there when you are anxious. It will be there when you are devastated. Your quit is there for you always....letting you know that you don't have to hurt yourself anymore because you feel bad about you. You don't have to inhale poisons to make things 'right'. You don't have to risk cancers and disease because your heart is in pain. Your quit is the best part of you because it cherishes who you are....it loves you at your worst as well as at your best....it helps you heal and feel and embrace and enjoy.
It may seem like a solitary journey, just like smoking was...but it doesn't isolate, it grows you. It doesn't hide you, it celebrates you. It doesn't separate you, it makes you whole. So rather than long for what used to be, why not look forward to what's to come? Rather than run back to something that harms, why not hold fast to something that helps heal? Rather than risk illness, why not embrace no longer hurting yourself?
Walk your quit journey with integrity. Honor your commitment and honor yourself. You deserve this, you need this, and one day--trust me--you will want this. But it all starts with you and your willingness to take that first step, no matter how scary or hesitant you may be. Some day in the future, you will come here and tell a new quitter that you didn't regret a thing by quitting. And you'll walk with them as they take that first step....
