6 Months Smoke-Free
"The "you" 6 months from now is depending on the "you" of today." ~ Todd40
Every now and then a member at the About.com Smoking Cessation support forum shares pearls of wisdom about the transformation smoking cessation brings to our lives. This week I'd like to introduce you to Todd, who just completed the first 6 months of his quit program. Congratulations, Todd!
From Todd:
Here are the facts.......I have now been cigarette free for 6 months. I've had good times, bad times, in-between times and in the end I've done it without smoking. I've used the resources on this site, leaned on friends here from time to time, but the cold reality of it is, I did the work.
For those ahead of me on our journey, again I say thank you. For those behind me, here is the trick to success. It's not about the battle. It's not about winning a day to day struggle. It's about accepting the reality that, for awhile, we are going to crave, desire, and once in awhile miss smoking.
For me, smoking was the driving force in my life for 23 years. I woke up and smoked. I drove to work and smoked. I planned my day around when could I get outside to smoke. 23 years this went on. It doesn't disappear completely in 6 months. When a craving hits, just accept it as the consequences of your previous daily choice to smoke, and move on. In order to free ourselves from it, we must pay the bill.
I very seldom get hit with a strong craving now. It comes at strange times. I finished clearing the driveway of snow, and suddenly wanted a cigarette. I looked at that craving with wonderment. Here it was, 5 months after quitting, and I was wanting a smoke. I found a little humor in that. And then the craving went away. I haven't had a serious craving since then, nearly 5 weeks ago.
So yes, it does get much easier. But at the same time, I am not arrogant enough to believe that I won't have another one. Like I said, it was who I was for 23 years. A friend of mine joked many years ago......"There are two kinds of people in the world. Smokers and non-smokers. Pick one, and be that person." I laughed, but he was right.
You want to be a non-smoker? Than don't smoke. Have a craving? Tell that craving sorry, but I'm a non-smoker. I can't give in to you anymore. Stress getting the better of you? Again, sorry, but non-smokers have stress too. You must get in the mind-set that regardless of how you feel, you are a non-smoker. Cigarettes are no longer an option. (ok, I'm off my soap-box now.)
One more thing.............if you are here thinking about setting a quit date, but you just aren't sure if you are strong enough to make it through, trust me that you are. Every person in this forum who has quit had those same thoughts, and we are all doing it. We are no different than you.
Set your date.......and don't wait until your last pack is gone. That is a crutch. The money you spent on those smokes deserves to be wasted. Soak them in water, throw them in the trash, and get on with it. Make a statement to yourself that nothing, including a few dollars worth of tobacco, is going to get in your way this time. Then post on this forum until your fingers get cramps.
The "you" 6 months from now is depending on the "you" of today. The future "you" can't be free from cigarettes unless you do the work right now. In 6 months, would you like to be celebrating half a year smoke free, or would you rather still be kicking yourself every time you light up?
My heart is filled with love for all of you. May God bless you on your journey.
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Take The Quit Smoking Monday Pledge
Healthy Monday encourages us to think of every Monday as a day that we can begin work anew on goals that we have for ourselves. If you're still smoking, put your cigarettes down and get started on your quit program today.
We all have the ability to quit smoking successfully, and we all deserve a life that is free of addiction. Honor your life by choosing Monday as the day to start and reinforce your quit program.
You can quit smoking ... and we're here to help you, one simple Monday at a time.
Image © healthymonday.org
Quit Smoking Monday Messages originally appeared on About.com Smoking Cessation on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 06:31:45.
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AP - A troublingly high number of U.S. patients who are given angiograms to check for heart disease turn out not to have a significant problem, according to the latest study to suggest Americans get an excess of medical tests.
A Life Cut Short by Tobacco
According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in American men and women today. It's also the most preventable form of cancer, with 87 percent of all lung cancer cases attributable to tobacco use.
While tobacco is usually a slow killer, with the toxins and carcinogens in tobacco smoke taking years to poison us, that's not always the way of it. Sometimes tobacco strikes a person down young.
In the heart-wrenching account I'm sharing with you today, About.com Smoking Cessation support forum member Karen (9Sept) shares this real life story about Cat, a young man who used tobacco much less than the average person and for decades less than most smokers. His story will sadden and scare you ... and it should.
Tobacco use is a lot like playing Russian roulette with a loaded gun. You have no way of knowing when it's going to go off in your face...or lungs...or heart...or throat...you get the idea. It may sound harsh, but the reality of what smoking does to us is much more than harsh. It's horrific.
Thank you for sharing Cat's story with us, Karen. He will live on to help others through the words you've so poignantly put to paper on his behalf.
He won't be forgotten.
If you're still smoking, don't pacify yourself with justifications that you have time to quit before a smoking-related disease catches up with you. There is no way to know when disease will strike or what form it will take when it does.
Given the thousands of dangerous chemical compounds circulating through a person's body with each puff on a cigarette, the odds of escaping the disease and death that follows tobacco use are never in the smoker's favor.
Don't waste another day of your precious and irreplaceable life on an addiction that will snuff it out, given the chance.
Image © Stockxpert
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Take The Quit Smoking Monday Pledge
Healthy Monday encourages us to think of every Monday as a day that we can begin work anew on goals that we have for ourselves. If you're still smoking, put your cigarettes down and get started on your quit program today.
We all have the ability to quit smoking successfully, and we all deserve a life that is free of addiction. Honor your life by choosing Monday as the day to start and reinforce your quit program.
You can quit smoking ... and we're here to help you, one simple Monday at a time.
Image © healthymonday.org
Quit Smoking Monday Messages originally appeared on About.com Smoking Cessation on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 09:51:02.
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