Tomorrow, November 20th, 2008, is the 33rd annual Great American Smokeout. This would be a great day to give it a try! Quitting smoking that is.
I, Diana Fletcher, TotalHealth Coach, used to be a smoker. Many years ago.
I started in High School and tried to quit many times without success. I always exercised, ate well, yet the addiction to nicotine was a stong one. It wasn’t until my late twenties, that I finally did it.
For the first few days, I thought about a cigarette all the time. Wait, who am I kidding? For more than the first few days. For weeks.
I had to make it through the morning. Then I would make it through the afternoon. Then night, and I would go to bed early.
For some reason, this is the thing that helped me the most. I would tell myself, “OK, you may always want one, but you can’t have it.”
I am not sure why that worked, but perhaps it was the acknowledgment that I wanted to smoke, but I was making the choice to stop. It was my choice, no one was telling me what to do, and I realized it was an addiction.
Gradually, my breathing got easier, I felt better, gained a few pounds, then got it off and felt really, really good.
I cannot even imagine smoking now. And for anyone who is thinking of quitting, this is the perfect day to do it. You can get extra support from http://www.determinedtoquit.com or http://www.cancer.org.
Sometimes we just need to know that someone else understands how hard it is.
There are more smoking-related deaths each year that there are deaths from alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, murder, and illegal drugs combined. (Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Nov.19th,2008)
Good Luck to all those out there who really want to quit. You can do it!
Diana Fletcher 