Good morning to all of my EXer family....Yesterday, I was triggered by JACKIE1-25-15 titled "What would you say to a serial quitter...." So on the drive home last night after a long day...I was thinking how grateful that I am that I am smokefree today after 258 days with very little thought of smoking these days...But, as for me...and many others here I suspect...these days were not always easy.
That concept of a "serial quitter" seems to be somewhat of a negative ...what the heck. It "is" a negative term. And it actually needs to be negative. I mean after all...we are all here because we have been suffering long enough, and in many cases have sacrificed massive portions of our lifelong health because of the adverse effects that are a direct result from over indulging in a lie that was fabricated years ago by large corporate tobacco to keep us "lambs" coming back to slaughter. I too have been a receipient of several failed quits. So, I began to look for the common thread, or mindset in each one of my failed quits. Sort of like a research assignment for lack of a better term. Here are a few items that I could bring to memory, and thought that I would run them by our community for a discussion continuation...
- In the begining of each long term quit, I found my most effective weapon of defense was my immediate recall of just how terribly I was feeling @ the time, or day that I decided to begin my quit.
- knowing how bad I felt, and how desperately I wanted to feel better...it was very easy to say NO! I am NOT giving in to this lie.
- the smell of second hand smoke was disgusting, (or @ least it represented a poisonous way of life that I was escaping) I would then simply steer well clear of all smells and be grateful for the resolve to never do that again.
- I was blogging daily, sometimes, or often five times a day if needed...
- I had an attitude of grattitude, and genuinely showed appreciation for elderly advice, and wantingly sought out experience from others
- somewhere around six months time...the smell of second hand smoke had much less appalling effect on me, in fact..it almost began to be associated with fond memories of the old days....uh oh...see that coming?
- I began to show less and less time toward my recovery as I had during its infancy. After all, I had not smoked in over six months by now....heck I had even successfully navigated the infamous "No Mans' Land."
- It should be said here...that I am going to pause and explain that I have recently redoubled my committment to staying quit. I now am blogging more often again, and I am reaching out, and trying to help more than before. Now, more than ever...I, (and many others I suspect) at a little over 8 months are about to get hit with some rogue waves of last ditch effort from this addiction to pull me back.
- Now for the meat of my message:
For each day since my last smoke....
I am "one day closer" to my next one...
That is my experience in the past...and I would be reckless to not pay close attention to it, and learn from it.
- So if you are new here and are reading this thread, I hope that you can get hope from it, and not despair. If you recently lost a quit...all is not lost...we just need to stay vigilant.
- They say that a smart man learns from his mistakes...but a "wise man" learns from someone elses mistakes.
Pops 258 Days of Freedom!!!!!!!!!!!!
