January 30, 2019 at 9 something at night I put out my last cigarette! January 31, no starting the day with that first smoke. Have managed to avoid that "first" smoke for a year! Am SOOO proud of myself. Had "tried" to quit many times before but never made it. It must not have been the right time. This time it was.
This year have been full of challenges so big I thought I would never make it. But I did. The challenges are continuing but the cravings are not.
The benefits of not smoking are immense. Some I knew, others could not have imagined.
One's I knew.
1. Don't have to plan my travel schedule around having time for that last smoke before getting on a plane.
2. Don't have to stand outside in the freezing weather just to feed that demon.
3. Can stand outside in the nice weather and thoroughly enjoy the sun.
4. Can take the upgraded room at hotels that is farther away from a place to smoke.
5. Don't have to carry a special jacket that I could keep for smoking only during conferences. This one is funny, my hair smelled anyway. Wasn't fooling anybody.
These were all in addition to those normally discussed on this site.
The benefits I did not imagine.
Even as a smoker, I have been exceptionally healthy. I eat properly, exercise regularly and all that stuff. In June, I was diagnosed with a large meningioma. Just a fancy word for a particular type of tumor on the brain. Not exactly a brain tumor but definitely trying to share the same space. The doc said that it had probably been there for a very long time. It had just become big enough to piss off my brain. So under the knife I went. Woke in the ICU and said hi to the doc. He did a happy dance. Was moved to a normal room and the nurses would hang out and chat. My sleep habits were messed up. Just there one more day then got the boot from the hospital. Was there a total of two days. Recovery wasn't exactly a basket of puppies. I had to relearn where things lived spatially, how to find specific words and how to swallow. Three months later, was released for normal work. I thought I was ready earlier but the doc held the reins pretty tight. He said I was his miracle child.
So to make a short story long. The benefit is that there would have been NO WAY that I would have recovered so quickly if I was still smoking.
So that is about all I have to say about that.
