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Share your quitting journey

Congrats newcomers

Maki
Member
3 2 48
‎07-01-2020 11:33 AM

If today is your quit day Congratulations ! If July is your quit month , congratulations ! 

Every quit starts by taking the first step and today is an awesome day to start , July an awesome month to start . 

If you start today , by July 4th you will have already given up likely several packages of cigarettes , gotten through craves you never though possible , and not smoked roughly a hundred cigs . More importantly , you will have started the healing process . You will be surprised how quickly you will see changes in your breathing, your hair , you nails , your skin and your confidence just to name a few . 

There will be a bonfire from what I have read ( a yearly tradition at Ex ) this week where you can toss those unsmoked cigarettes and say good riddance to bad rubbish and meet others who started this journey just like you . I came from another site so this will be my first too and I am excited . 

I bet there will be a lot of fun as well at the bonfire and you will have already had three or four days behind you . How cool ! 

Now you are bringing your new smoke free self into your first party celebrating July as your quit day , month and year .

 

Six months from now you will have gone through summer and fall and have 1/2 a year quit ! 

Many are afraid at first  ( fear of the unknown) ( I was afraid ) or perhaps you have a bit or a lot of doubt ( that was me too ) but I learned others felt that way too . Every one here understands .

Folks here are so supportive . I just came here six months or so ago . We practise keeping our quit one day at a time because we believe being free is important and is doable . I was never alone on my journey . Someone always knew what I was talking about when I quit .... you won't be alone either .

Quitting smoking is not doom and gloom ( although you may feel you are losing your friends) but trust me you are not alone and your life is going to change for the better . 

You can't smoke what you don't have . Non smokers have no smoking paraphanalia in their homes , in their cars , in the secret hide out be it a cupboard , in the garage  or in a coat pocket . Celebrate tossing that stuff , you won't need it .  Instead of cigarettes we help each other get through and together , we're in it to beat it . 

Maki 

@

2 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 .