ARE WE THERE YET
Overview . My quit . Hoping sharing a part of my journey might help someone else .
Day 1 , scared as can be and not too confident in my ability but hung in there with a fighting spirit .
Day 3 , Ug ! Failed that day many times before . Gave up even before that day came knockin at my door . Biological clock work. Day 3 would come and I caved . Repeatedly .
To quit would obviously take a little bit more than three days but forever seemed like an eternity . Wait what ? Can anyone guess here was wrong with my thinking ? Isn't it really why I chose to quit ? I didn't want to be quit temporarily ; I didn't want to be quit "just for today" . What I wanted was to end the cycle of "trying" to quit and to be quit forever . In other words "do " it.
Day 21 . Is it over yet ? Nope , it's not , refer back to day 3 . Lol Keep going . Don't quit quitting . Three weeks to break a habit .
Should it be over at 21 days quit ? Have I broken the habit , maybe , but what about the dependency , the triggers , the emotions . I certainly wasn't there yet . 25 years smoking . 25. How many habits , triggers and emotions Were connected . One ? Two ? Three ? Nope . Dozens , hundreds and thousands likely .
I smoked when stressed , smoked as soon as I got up , smoked with coffee , after coffee , smoked at social gatherings , smoked when worried and smoked before bed . I smoked in crisis , smoked in anger , smoked when I was sad , smoked at the party , smoked to feel glad .... the list goes on and on . Keep on quittin . I'll get through .
Day 100 . Whew ! made it . Thats when I found a big shift in my thinking . Craves were more like waves that you could ride , the practise everyday of nope was helping but was it over yet ? Nope but it was better ; much much better . Not one puff ever . But was I there yet ? Nope . I still had some odd wicked days , but they weren't every day , not even every week .
Day 365 . Holy smokes I stopped thinking about smokes ; I felt I could finally let my gaur down down . I didn't think of them like I used to in fact barely at all and colds were much fewer . The air smelled wonderful and I could breathe better too . But was I there yet ?
Four seasons of triggers . Four seasons to get through . Not one puff was much much easier to do . But not there yet but woth continuing on .... you bet !
9 years quit ! Where did the years go ? When I first quit the days went by so slow . 9 years quit and grateful I have forever , however long that may be to go . I'm in it for " life" .
15 years they say before our bodies will have returned to a non smokers state . Had I not quit it would have been too late ! Time waits for no one ? Use it wisely . I doubt I'd seen this last nine years or look forward to the next six had I not quit . I may not have even been here for covid , and I pray I'm here to see the cure for it . My chances are better . I'm not done yet .
Hang in their new comers . One day at a time . You can do this ; do it for you .
Don't let forever scare you , let forever motivate you .
Maki
