Have not touched a cigarette for nine full months now. The theory of 2 yesrs - 2 % ( Only two percent of quitters go back to smoking after quitting for two full years) keeps ringing in my years, so I plan to post every month till I hit the magical mark of two years.
The month gone by has been smooth-sailing with no great threats to my quit. Yesterday, we had a major get- together of colleagues and one of my friends queried about me trying a puff. My reaction was a bit too curt when I said no to the offer. Told him that I am afraid of once again waking up my addiction. Another friend asked me if I had the conviction to declare myself a non-smoker. Got me thinking and I had to answer that I still do not have that level of confidence to declare myself a non-smoker.
Was reading Nicholas Nassim Taleb's 'The Black Swan' and it hit me that relapsing into smoking is also a good example of a black swan phenomenon. Even if we are quit for a thousand days, the nature of the addiction is such that one cannot confidently predict that the next day will be a smokefree day. One puff is all it takes to destroy the quit. So it is absolutely vital to be on guard and ramp up our defences against the sneaking junkie thought of 'just one puff'.
Today, I shall once again set aside an hour's time to read all those good words by the likes of Alan Carr and John Polito ( and hwc here) to once again strengthen my resolve to stay smokefree for the next one month and beyond.
Never Take Another Puff.
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