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Share your quitting journey

Support Groups and Success

RoseH
Member
58 91 3,824

Good Morning, Everyone

This is for newcomers, who don’t know where to turn to, and feel alone, depressed and overwhelmed by life’s challenges and problems…  Never underestimate the power of a support group like this one!

 

I started smoking when I was 14 years old.  I remember that first “puff”, steeling a cigarette from an aunt, who I was staying with over the weekend…  I tip-toed into the bathroom with one of her cigarettes and lighter, early morning, when she was still sleeping…  “WOW”...  when I lit up it tasted terrible!  I threw it down the toilet and flushed it away…  However, most of us keep trying, because we are naïve’ about the destructive and addictive effects of Nicotine, until it is too late, and we are “hooked”!

 

There were no groups to support me.  We had commercials on our tiny little black and white TV screens showing us people like the “Marlboro Man” who was handsome, and sitting on a beautiful Stallion Horse, looking out at a beautiful mountain scene, smoking a cigarette…  There used to be lots of commercials on alcohol too!  Bourbon, Whiskey, Vodka, lots of different beers…

 

My point today is that BecomeanEx.com is literally, a “lifesaver”!

 

My wonderful husband, whom I love very much, is a highly functioning alcoholic.  I just joined Al-anon, which is for family members, who suffer from the effects of an alcoholic personality…  In just a few days, I am learning so much on how I can “let go” and not feel shame or guilt because of his daily drinking…

 

Back to Nicotine, which is an addictive drug.  If we smoke, we are Nicotine “addicts”, period.  If you feel overwhelmed and depressed, ask for help here!  Come here every day and participate.  Read posts and discover how others feel the same, as you do.  One day at a time, we can learn and support each other, and begin to change the things we can, within ourselves…

 

Quitting smoking is hard, at first.  The first thing I did for myself, was to realize that I needed help and then put effort into participating with the “elders” and I tried to learn everything I was able to, to begin my journey in becoming smoke-free…

 

Make a sound plan to quit smoking.  If you need help in forming one, ask how to do it!  Many of us can help you in the right direction!  In the beginning, it is best to keep it “one day at a time”!  Live just for today, and don’t worry about tomorrow…  If I can do it, after over 50 years of smoking, believe me, it is possible for you too!  I wish all of you a very happy and smoke free Monday, and let’s all keep our beautiful quits, ok?  Rosemary

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About the Author
I was 57 years old and smoking like a chimney in September 2003. I was also having medical problems and upon my doctor’s diagnosis, I knew I had to quit smoking. I was scheduled and admitted to the hospital in October 2003. I had a total hysterectomy and was recuperating, when a nurse found me upset in my room and she told me to try to calm down, and take a deep breath… I could not take a deep breath! In fact, I had to be put on oxygen immediately! I was terrified. A medical specialist was brought in, and that is when I learned I had COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). My x-rays confirmed it, and the direct cause was smoking [since I was 15 years old]. I had double pneumonia as an infant, so my lungs were fragile, even when I was very young… I had to stay an extra week and they pumped steroids and antibiotics in my arm so I could breathe on my own, again. My nose got so sore with those oxygen cannulas in both nostrils. Hindsight is always 20/20. I should have never started smoking. However, peer pressure was awful when I was 15 years old. A few of my classmates dared me to light up and smoke one… I remember that first taste and how I coughed from the smoke. It was awful! But I wanted to “belong”, so I smoked until the addiction took hold of me! Back to the hospital room… I was terrified. I quit. I stayed that way for six whole months. My husband, Ed quit with me. We were doing great and then one day I said to him, “My life feels empty. Do you think we’ve got this quitting thing under control? Do you think we can have just a few a day? Before I could say another word, he was off in the car to buy some cigarettes… We both lit up when he returned, and I felt like my throat and lungs were on fire! I smashed it out and coughed! “I will never do that again!” But an addict’s lies are just that! Before long I was smoking over a pack a day again… The truth is that I had no idea how terrible the “addiction” to the drug Nicotine was. I smoked for another decade or two and each day I would tell myself that I would quit “tomorrow”. Don’t be as naïve’ as I was about this slowly killing addiction! Quit now! I would not be using two inhalers if I would have kept my quit way back then…