Think you can't quit? THINK AGAIN! I was a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker who often lit one cigarette off the other. And I haven't touched one in over a year!
Think you're going through too much stress right now to quit? THINK AGAIN! I chose to quit during one of the most stressful times in my life. (Shortly after finding out I had an incurable--and sometimes fatal--autoimmune disease AND while watching one of my dearest friends die from terminal illness.)
Think you like smoking too much to give it up? THINK AGAIN! Think about all the things you hate about it--the smell, the cough, the cost, the fear/guilt/shame, etc. Now think about what you "like" about it. Is it the buzz? Because that's just your brain flooding with chemicals that are causing damage. Think you like that first cigarette of the day? Because what you are really feeling when you light up that first one is relief after an 8-hour withdrawal period. It's not enjoyment. It's addiction.
Think you've already done enough damage and might as well keep smoking? THINK AGAIN! Your body begins healing itself immediately after you put out that last cigarette. In fact, after 20 minutes, your pulse and blood pressure start to return to normal, and fibers in your bronchial tubes start to move again, sweeping gunk out of the lungs. In 20 minutes. That's less time than it takes to watch a sitcom!
Think you can have just one? THINK AGAIN! I once quit for 11 years, and I tried having "just one" at a party. (I won't go into the reasons why. I'll just say it was a stupid decision and leave it at that.) Within weeks I was back up to more than a pack a day.
Think these withdrawal symptoms and cravings will never end? THINK AGAIN! I was a miserable wretch for the first few weeks. My mood was awful. I was constantly angry and constantly tired. (Not to mention constantly hungry!) But somewhere around a month after I quit, I started to notice that I was feeling a bit more like myself. I wasn't so angry all the time. I no longer thought about cigarettes constantly. I still had work to do, but I started to feel like I could really do this. (And incidentally, even though I mentioned above that I threw away a quit after many years, that doesn't mean that I was craving for all those years. Most of that time I never thought about smoking at all!)
Thinking about quitting? Now there's something worth thinking about!
