Hello Fellow Quitters,
I'm a 54 year old female that has smoked for 40 years. I quit cigarettes totally, 10 days ago.
I would like to share my story for two reasons. One, I hope that my story may help someone else out there, and two, I need you and this blog page for support.
Here is my story.
I have NOT smoked "guilt free" for 10 years. Every time I lit up a cig, or even thought about a cig, I knew it was killing me. I smoked anyway.
For years I have dealt with respiratory infections, about two times a year. I would have to take two rounds of antibiotics and steroids to get rid of the infections. After getting well, I would tell myself " the next time I get sick, I will quit smoking" but I never did. The respiratory infections got worse year after year. There were times I couldn't breath, I was using an inhaler and nebulizer. I smoked anyway.
My dad and I went to a quit smoking class at a hospital 15 years ago. He quit, I didn't. Even tho he quit, he is now, 15 years later, walking around with an oxygen tank. The damage was already done. I smoked anyway.
I tried every nicotine replacement therapy on the market, including the pills. I smoked anyway.
I told everone that would listen that " I know I NEED to quit smoking but I don't want to"!! Someone said to me once, "nobody WANTS to". That made me think.
I exercise, hike, swim, ride bikes, and am active in general. I told myself that if I want to continue to lead an active lifestyle, I need to quit smoking. I smoked anyway.
I tried only smoking outside of the house. I told myself it would help me quit. When winter came and it got cold outside, I just started smoking in the house again.
I would make lists of all the reasons I wanted to quit smoking and carry that list around with me. I would post it on my fridg or leave it on the cupboard in plain site. I smoked anyway.
Then one day I read something that made an impact on me. Here is what I read and did.
Make a list not of all the reasons you want to quit, but make a list of all the pro's and con's of smoking. If someone out there is reading this, please make that list for yourself. I found my pro list to be very very small. In fact there was only one thing on that side of the list. That one thing was that it comforted me in times of stress. So what, I asked myself, would I feel if I didn't smoke? Uncomfortable? Anxious?
I am now chewing the gum. Citrus flavor. Oh yea, one more thing. I breath deeply many many many times a day. In thru the nose, and out thru the mouth. Sometimes I only have to breath deeply a couple of times. Sometimes I have to sit down and breeth deeply 10 times or more. But it's working!!
I do use the inhaler at times also. The inhaler promotes deep breathing. Mostly in the car is when I use the inhaler but I also use it when I'm on the computer.
Another thing that helped me was exercise. I made a deal with myself to do as much yoga as I could the first week of quitting. I knew that the more I sweat, the faster I would get that nicotine out of my system. I did yoga every single day that first week. Sometimes twice a day.
I'm feeling great and I'm feeling more confident this time about not smoking than I ever have before.
So make your pro's and con's list. Not of quitting, but of smoking. I hope this helps some of you out there that have struggled with wanting to quit. If it does, I would love to hear from you!!
Thank You for reading my post and God Bless!
Namaste
