@JenDyer34
Welcome to EX. I would prepare for your quit by doing all of the reading on here including "The Easy Way to Quit." I did not find quitting too be easy but once I really understood my addiction, I found it easiER. I had good days and bad days but I had them when I smoked too. We see our smoking as some sort of best friend. Who has a best friend who is trying to kill them? Who has a best friend who controls their every move? Answer...NO ONE. While you are still smoking, take the time to track your cigarettes and figure out when your triggers occur and which ones are the strongest...plan for what you will do instead of smoking when a trigger occurs. I wrote that down. I had a plan for each of my many triggers. I smoked for 47 years with the exception of quitting for pregnancies and some short term failed quits. This time, I got so sick that I really got a look at what my death would be like if I kept on smoking. There is no guarantee that I still won't die gasping for breath but I don't have to FEED that, I don't have to rush my death and feed my COPD. I needed to learn to care for myself and I enlisted friends and family and even strangers to help me on my journey. I have always been the same person I am now but I stuffed my feelings into cigarettes and I don't do that any more. I may be a little less patient with people but, you know what? Those people took advantage of my patience and my kindness for a very long time and I am over it. I am not turbo bitch but I could pull her out if I needed to. I quit smoking to take care of myself and to give myself the best chance I could to live as long as I can. I did not give anything up, I took my life back, I am in control of my choices and now I am aware of that.
If I can do this, anyone can, I have not smoked in over three years now and, believe me, I have had some rough times but I know that smoking doesn't fix anything, it doesn't even make things better. Believe it, you CAN DO THIS.
Ellen
