Today is the nine month anniversary of my quit! I smoked for 40 years and I am still amazed by this journey and by how great it feels! NINE months!!! I swear to you - I had no idea how doable this would be.
A few days ago, I reposted a blog I wrote on my one month aniversary - as a comment on someone's blog. I got back some very nice responses - so I have decided to repost it on this blog. As it says at the bottom - THANKS to my dear friends here!!
"In a few hours I will reach the milestone of one month since I quit smoking! It still feels like a dream - like this is happening to someone else......because, as you know, I smoked for 40 years! As I've said before - I don't know why the hell it took me so long - but, better late than never is my motto, as I look to the future! The reading I did to prepare for my quit - plus this marvelous site - have allowed me to do this for myself.
I also mentioned before that I once lost a lot of weight. It was many years ago (almost 30!), but I still have a magazine article I saved from that time. These words were written by a woman's husband after she had lost a great deal of weight - however, I believe they can apply to our struggle with nicotine addiction. The woman was having a bad day and said to her husband -" what was the point of this struggle - nothing has changed." He wrote the following note to her the next day:
"You tell me that nothing and no one has changed, that your life is exactly the same as it was before. True, nothing has changed, and yet, everything has changed. You have overcome the greatest pain and anguish of your life. You have dealt with your personal demon and stood up to the torment that has always been a part of your existence and finally, once and for all, conquered it. You will never be the same again. To have done this changes a person. Very few have the courage, the greatness of spirit, to overcome their greatest pain. Those few who do - can never, ever be defeated by life. The finest thing a human being can do - and the hardest - is to grow past our own special enemy, the traitor within, and become free of it. Very few ever do this. You did it, and the strength and pride that now belong to you will always be there when you need them. I am terribly proud of knowing you." Larry LeShan
I share these words with you - and I believe they apply to all of you. THANK YOU!!
