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Share your quitting journey

The Courage to Live Well!

Thomas3.20.2010
0 8 29

Another 100 Days!

On my 100 day milestones I reflect on my quit journey and do my best to reflect on  where I've been and glimpse where I might be going nEXt! This day my theme is having the Courage to Live Well! Here are some affirmations on Courage that I find appropriate to my Celebration!

Courage doesn't always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.  ~Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.  ~Samuel Johnson  

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.  ~Ambrose Redmoon

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every day you either see a scar or courage.  Where you dwell will define your struggle.  ~Dodinsky

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.  ~Winston Churchill

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.  ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do.  There can be no courage unless you're scared.  ~Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

Courage can't see around corners, but goes around them anyway.  ~Mignon McLaughlin

Sometimes the biggest act of courage is a small one.  ~Lauren Raffo

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.  ~C.S. Lewis

The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.  ~John F. Kennedy

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.  ~Raymond Lindquist

Courage, in the final analysis, is nothing but an affirmative answer to the shocks of existence.  ~Kurt Goldstein

No one has yet computed how many imaginary triumphs are silently celebrated by people each year to keep up their courage.  ~Henry S. Haskins

For without belittling the courage with which men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which men have lived.  ~John F. Kennedy

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.  ~Dorothy Bernard
Courage is to feel the daily daggers of relentless steel and keep on living.  ~Douglas Malloch

Have the courage to live.  Anyone can die.  ~Robert Cody

When I was diagnosed with COPD, I received a lot of messages from people - everything from Be assertive! Make the most of what you have left  to  You're nothing more than a Zombie, the Living Dead, you might as well give up on living and smoke yourself into the grave! After EXamining these options, I chose to live! I took my last puff 6 days later, joined this site, listened to the long-term quitters and put my all into making the most of my life! I barely got started with my new Smoke FREE lifestyle and for the first time in my life, I was laif-off! So instead of running head-long into self-destruction, I used many of the lessons I had learned as an EXer to help me focus on getting a new job! In my case, it meant that at the age of 52, I had to change careers, start at the bottom of the food chain, face not knowing anything and open myself up to learning from scratch. 10 Months into my quit journey, I lost my Best Friend and GodMother! I was devastated and left without my anchor! I allowed myself to grieve openly and to share myself like I'd never done before! (If you haven't noticed, I most often hide myself behind articles and affirmations (almost did that again today!) The place she left open in my heart can never really be filled but I've learned to live, I 've learned to get out of bed each day even when I think I can't and courageously take a shower, brush my teeth, and walk out the front door. Fake it till you make it! What a road map for courage! Sharing on BecomeanEx has EXposed me to many different people all with one goal - living life abundantly smoke FREE! Some of my dearest friends here have unfortunately not stayed on track. Some have disappeared and some have even passed away! That's the risk you take when you friend so many people! I'm learning to live with it but it isn't easy! 

There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.
M. Scott Peck

Taking the nEXt step forward takes courage, but taking that step with a smile on your face, is the Valor that comes with spiritual growth, belief in the Almighty, with true pure LOVE: LOVE of God, LOVE of self, and LOVE for our fellow human!  Lord, give me the Courage to LMAO!

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8 Comments
aztec
Member

HI Thomas,

Congratulations on 700 days, Wow what a milestone, YOu are one of the strongest examples of tenacity , inspriation for health and fitness , knowledge, perseverance and strength that I have found here on ex.

I am so blessed to have you as a friend, I know that no matter what I am going through that you will respond to me when I need an ear and a hand.

I appreciate all the help you have given me through your emails or blogs in the last couple years.

I look for you to post and I read them.

I belleive that knowledge is power and I love it when you are researching something and post it for us to learn.

Thank You for sharing your faith, I haven't done my meditation but i have been working out on a total gym and studying about diabetes education for myself and my dad, It has been an uphill struggle, my parents are both resistant to learning  about it, and I have been discouraged, I needed to read your post today on Courage.

It came at such a right time for me, I had almost given up, but my dad needs to learn to prevent the diabetes through diet so he doesn't need inslulin, I am tyring the preventative approach, i had 4 ,3 hour classes on cooking with diabetes and I learned alot.

I know that was off topic, but your writing this morning has helped me to persevere. I won't give up,

Courage is not the absence of fear , its feeling the fear and doing it anyways.

Thank you Bro for always being there for me.

I would rather breathe than smoke

lots of love and light to you.

♥aztec

donna-b2
Member

CONGRADULATIONS THOMAS!  and very nicely put.  your a true inspiration.

Newfound_Joy
Member

BIG CONGRATS to you, Thomas on 700 days SMOKE FREE!!  WoWoW!  That is HUGE.

I especially liked these 3 courage affirmations: (below) For me courage is recognizing my fear and then pushing through it anyway to get to the other side.  And it ALWAYS comes with personal rewards. 

God is using you as a gift to all of us here and a true blessing.  Thank you for that!

(And your Avatar is perfect.........LMAO)  Joy ❤️

 

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.  ~Ambrose Redmoon

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.  ~Raymond Lindquist

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.  ~Dorothy Bernard 

Yaya2.6.10
Member

Hooray for 700 days!  You have spent those days so well in helping the rest of us and we love you for it.  Thanks for being you!

Ex_Nancy
Member

Linda is right Thomas, you are a beautiful soul and a great inspiration to me....CONGRATS on 7OO days SMOKEFREE....xoxo

jewel9
Member

Congratulations on 700 days!!  Thank you for being here for the rest of us.  I love your posts!

Bonnie11.3.2009

Thomas, I believe that when your anchor, your godmother, died, your spirit took on many of her traits and that I've seen them abuntantly here on EX, everyday!  

Even though you think you hide behind articles, we know who you are and you touch us spiritually and mentally!

Congratulations, my friend,  on another 100 days on your new life journey!

Dakota_Posse
Member

700 Days....getting closer and closer to the 4 Digit Club!!  You are such a blessing on this Site tThomas.....we are truly blessed!!!!

Cindy

About the Author
63 years old. 20 year smoker. 11 Years FREE! Diagnosed with COPD. Choosing a Quality LIFE! It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. -Galatians 5:1