When I was in the early phase of my quit, I blogged about being at a chain drug store, waiting in line and looking up to see a wall of cigarettes and NRT's in front of me. I was overwhelmed by the amount of nicotine just in that one store. It was as if my nicotine addiction had come to life to confront me. "Do you really want to give me up, Sheryl?" I left all that nicotine in the store, untouched. My quit continued uninterrupted.
The other day, I had a similar experience, except this time the wall was made of Easter candy. I have managed to lose 70 pounds one day at a time by not eating sugar or white flour, junk food or fast food, and exercise. Once again, I felt overwhelmed looking at all that candy. Once again, I left the addictive substance in the store and continued forward with my recovery.
This morning it hit me that these two instances were like the runner's wall that people talk about. When you run a marathon runners say you get to a point where you feel like you can't go any further. But you can marshall your resources and push through. That's sort of what I did with the nicotine and with the candy. It's what I'm asking you to do when you hit the wall. The question the wall is asking you is do you really want to recover, move forward in your life. Push through and continue with your journey to freedom.
I have not had one puff since November 11, 2008. -- Sheryl
