Hello Everybody!!!
I am here to report that I have gotten to experience the joy of quitting--for the SECOND TIME!!! If you are thinking that I "caved", botched my quit, choked down a ciggie, well then--think again. I quit almost 17 days ago, and I have not had a single puff since. The joy of this second "quit" comes from that of my identical twin sister.
It took a lot of harping on my behalf. My twin sister and I went from speaking several times a day, to her avoiding my calls because she knew I was probably going to talk to her about quitting. When I would mention that she NEEDED to WANT to quit, she responded the usual way. "You don't understand...."; "my life is stressful...", "I have tried and it is too hard"; "and I don't want to quit anyway". Yeah right, what smoker does not want to quit? They just believe they can't be free, so they accept their death sentence.
Oh, and then there is my twin's classic line: "Your bothering me about quitting smoking, is only stressing me out more--and making me smoke MORE". To which I had what I thought was a very clever response--"Well if you quit smoking, then I would stop bothering you about quitting; and the only reason you are so stressed-out about smoking is because you are STILL smoking!" She didn't like that comment so much and promptly hung up on me, not speaking to me for a few days thereafter.
However, within a week or so, once she had seen that I was "doing this"--succeeding at quitting, she started to talk about quitting too. A few days later, she went to go buy herself some nicotine gum. This morning, she extinguished her last "sickorette". She just got through her first 12 hours--we all know how hard that is, although some may not remember as well. It has been so great to share my joy with someone else who is quitting--especially since she has taken a positive attitude toward her quit this time. It is funny how you can just "tell" when somebody does not have their "head into it".
Tonight, we spent a good hour chatting. She had a rough night at work, but she didn't smoke. It was wonderful to celebrate her success with her. I am her biggest fan after all. We laughed more than we have in a long time. We talked about the joy of quitting smoking. We talked about new visions of our futures, as non-smokers. Needless to say, it is so much nicer to be around somebody who is quitting with the right attitude.
Those of you who are letting the cravings get to you so badly, you are only empowering the cravings and denying your own strength. Next time you are losing your mind and going crazy over a craving, try taking a look at yourself in the mirror. It is an ugly sight to see yourself fiending for self-abuse--pathetic really. Sorry, but it IS!!! Get a grip. YOU control whether or not you smoke, nobody else, nothing else.
Why would you continue to give a voice to an inanimate, two-and-half inch cigarette--allowing it to tell you that you need it. Accept that quitting means that you will never be able to have not even another puff. When you are able to make your peace with that fact, then you will find that quitting becomes so much easier. There is no excuse for smoking, not ever.
N.O.P.E
Peace
