I had two three week quits in the months before THIS...my forever quit. I lost both of those two quits because I just could not handle feeling anger. I have since learned that it's perfectly normal to feel angry sometimes...smoking certainly doesn't make anything better. I would sit and smoke FURIOUSLY, puff, puff, puff...and imagine the source of my anger incinerating...yeah, that didn't happen. I quit many times over the course of my very long smoking career...the difference this time was the education about nicotine addiction. I read everything that was recommended and I read blogs...I came to this site every morning and every evening and often times, during the day when I needed to and I could. I can't tell you that this was really a PLANNED quit...I wanted to quit for a long time. I HATED smoking and the way it made me feel. It made me feel like people were looking at me like I was not a very smart person. Just like I started smoking because of peer pressure, it played a huge role in my quitting. My actual quit happened because I got pneumonia and I was SO SICK that there were several times over the course of my recovery when I was not sure I was going to make it. I have had COPD for some time although I was in denial. No more...the pneumonia left me with serious damage and COPD is not reversible. I work out regularly and I eat a healthy diet BUT I am pretty much always short of breath. The worst now because I am dealing with some broken ribs...the shortness of breath would be more than enough....the fatigue is horrible. I have chronic pain from rheumatoid arthritis and degenerative disc disease and I have fatigue from them but that is NOTHING compared to this feeling that I can never get enough sleep. Smoking never did anything FOR me but let me tell you that it sure did a lot TO me.
Stay close to the site, blog, read, ask questions, listen to the answers...this is a journey and there is no excuse worth smoking over.
Welcome back.
Ellen
And WELCOME.
