I smoked for over 50 years… I am getting close to two years quit now. Was it worth it? You bet! Is it hard to do? Well let’s think about that!
Attitude is everything… for life… in general! It can be a good day or a bad one… and it is all up to me! Being positive is the only way to accomplish anything! Not so long ago, I used to feel like I was “missing” something by not smoking. And why was that? Because a cigarette contains the drug, Nicotine. And Nicotine is very addictive!
My life literally revolved around when can I have my next cigarette? Looking back and rethinking about when is ridiculous to me now! Having another and another and another cigarette slowly destroys our health! And I can prove it. I have “COPD” which is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which is incurable. There are medicines that can help me, but they are expensive. They are a ball and chain around my life. They are my lifeline. I cannot quit them. If I would have stopped smoking sooner, my body would be able to heal itself. I lost that ability when the disease won!
But… there is a bright side! I don’t stop exercising anymore because I am out of breath. Even with COPD I can live a better life… if I just do not light up again. One day at a time my life can be better! So, quit! Quit today! Quit now! Do not tell yourself that, “I’ll quit tomorrow.” Tomorrow may never come! Addiction gives us tons of excuses to put it off, another day and another day… don’t fall into that trap, like I did!
It took me a long time to “get it” as far as the “addiction” goes. I always told myself I can quit any time I want to. But that was a downright lie! The addictive drug, Nicotine, whispered all kinds of non-truths into my mind. I had to read and get all kinds of information on how smoking destroyed me!
This Community will help you learn everything you can about how terrible smoking is. Simply put, “Community Is Strength”. It would be so much harder if I did not have the support of this Community and others I joined along the way. Get all the information you can from asking questions, reading posts here and searching for answers anywhere you can. The book, “Quitting Smoking the Easy Way” by Allen Carr helped me very much! Knowledge is power. Attitude and knowledge are powerful tools. Not being able to breath is a good reason to quit too! And I am not laughing after I say that!
Positive attitude is everything! If I knew how powerful my negative thoughts were before I quit smoking, I would have quit much sooner! Don’t defeat yourself with negative thoughts! I had my first cigarette at 14 years old and there were years of smoking when a lighted cigarette was always near me… As I look back now, I have such regret! Don’t do that to yourself! The sooner you quit, the better off you will be… Period!
I wish all of you a very happy and smoke free Friday, and let’s all keep our beautiful quits, ok? Rosemary
