~~You know all those things you always wanted to do? You should go do them.~~ Unknown
Most of us know life is short. One day we're 21 with our whole lives ahead of us and then, bam!!! We're 55 going "What the hell happened?" as we look in the mirror. And all those plans we had at 21 are still sitting on the shelf, waiting for 'some day'. You know. "Some day, I'll write that novel". "Some day, I'll see Ireland". "Some day, I'll retire".
Instead of all those things getting done, we spend a whoooolllleee lot of time on thinking about quitting smoking. Dipping our toes into quitting. Agonizing over our quitting. Resenting our quits. Losing them. Trying again. Talking about them. Reasoning with ourselves. Knowing we have to. Not wanting to. Kidding ourselves. And cycling, always cycling.
And one day you wake up and you truly get it. Your quit is all the sudden there and beautiful and solid and you wonder why it took you so long to figure it out. Letting it go is now easy and you move through your days practically walking on air. Yes!! No more cravings like those first few weeks. No more wanting a cigarette. No more not knowing what to do with yourself.
All those things you wanted to do? You could be doing now rather than wallowing in guilt over failed quits. You could be doing them now rather than biting your nails and wanting to rip off people's faces because they don't get how hard quitting is. You could be doing them now.
I had a jar full of 'things I want to do' when I quit. Some easy like getting my first pedicure. Some fun like dancing in the rain. Some hard like learning how to paint a tree. And anytime I started to waiver in my commitment to my quit, I'd pull one out and do that instead. Now I didn't put impossibles in there like going to Ireland because I couldn't get that done. Only things I wanted to do, to try, to enjoy with the money I had on hand and the time I could spare for it.
Yes, one day I will get to Ireland. It's something I always wanted to do. And 7 years now into my quit, I'm always doing what I've always wanted to do because I'm free from the chains of smoking. You can get there, too. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that you can quit. You just have to believe it yourself.
