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Share your quitting journey

Be calm

Maki
Member
8 11 131

Two things we all control today . 

To not smoke and to remain calm . 

This place ...  the Ex .... is safe , positive , calm and uplifting .

So grateful that the Ex is a place of calm I can come each day while I'm basically self isolating ( just a precaution) .  I don't need to be out l so why be out .  Lung related illness due to smoking asthma and immunodeficiency are just three reasons I stay quit and the reason I quit smoking and I want to stay that way .

I like calm , my body likes calm , chronic illness can be worrisome . Anxiety creates fear and anger and none of those things help anything . The body likes calm . We feel better when we are calm . 

Had this crisis happened nine years ago I'd have been a frantic mess . Having food in the house would not have been a thought  or toilet paper either nor would have making extra soup in case one of my family or a neighbor gets sick ..... but cigarette hording certainly would have . It would have been priority . I'd have fought for the last carton on the shelf as if it were my life .

I'm so glad I can choose to be both calm today and be smoke free today , aren't you . 

That's the feeling of peace. 

Maki 

11 Comments
About the Author
Smoker of 28 years . COPD recipient . My biggest help to quit was to read other successful quitters testimony . I’ll have a thirteen years quit June 30 , 2024 . Biggest lesson learned : I learned the “Just one” lesson . You can never have just one .It is the the key to everyone’s quit . Having “ none” is the easy way to quit smoking . Quit tools : Made use of my strengths and improved upon my weaknesses . Quit benefits , more time with my family , better quality of life , better self image . How I kept the quit : one day at a time , one step at a time . I told myself like a broken record : “ Don’t smoke ; Do something different “ then literally went and did something different other than smoking “ . Quitting is not complicated , nope is it , however it will be the process of self discovery for you to find that out for yourself . How long will that be ? Up to you . We are all different and we come from different backgrounds and smoked for different reasons so no one can really tell you when it will get easier for you only that it will . Be patient with yourself . Who cares how long it takes anyway because we all came to quit forever . This quit is for life , your life , so embrace it , welcome it , it’s the best thing you will ever do for yourself . The money you save get a bucket list of little rewards and big ones and do them . Change the things you can . Life is worth living . This gets easier , oh my gosh , so much much easier . Give it a season , give it two and you’ll never want to let go of your quit I promise you that . It’s wonderful , absolutely wonderful to be free . Quitting btw was the hardest thing I’ve ever done just like everyone here . I shed buckets of tears for weeks , yelled into a pillow , stuck my head into a cold bucket of water and paced aimlessly in head fog . Was it worth it , every bit of it ! Biggest improvement : , my health , the relationship with my family ( all non smokers thank goodness ) and finances . When I started 2011. I was walking three blocks with the use of inhalers for copd . Latest accomplishment : still on the inhalers no further advancement of copd . June 1 2023. Did my first 10 k . Next goal is my second 10k by the end of 2024 . I’m 68 years years young and I’m an Ex smoker . I was able to take three trips ( out of country ) with my family because I quit smoking . Time I never would have had had I not quit . Money from quitting paid for them . I want to say you are in control , take your power back from cigarettes from vaping or any addiction you might have . Life awaits you , don’t let it pass you by . Make the decision to stop and one day that light will shine upon you and make you a whole new you . Thank you to Quitnet members and Ex members for the support and encouragement to quit and stay quit . That along with my desire never to smoke again has given me a life long successful quit . No turning back , ever .