Thank you for the messages.
The last time I quit smoking it wasn't planned at all. I'm not even sure how it happened. I know I had been thinking about it a lot before I quit, but I had never set a date or any goals for myself. Then on my birthday, all of a sudden, I just stopped. This website was invaluable at the time. I read so many entries from people and I learned a lot about the process of quitting, and how no matter what excuses we have made for ourselves, someone on this website has proven us wrong. A good example is that I never believed you could quit smoking while others in your household smoked, but many people proved that was a complete fallacy. So I began my journey, and I discovered that quitting really isn't that difficult. You have some tough moments for sure, waves of extreme overwhelming energy rushing through your body, but they pass almost as quickly as they come. And with each day that passed, I was astounded by the amount of time that had passed. I think what hung me up was looking at the larger picture. I was adding up the hours I had quit and I never felt it was good enough. I wanted it to be longer. I wanted it to be a month, a year. And then one morning I woke up and I realized that I had really accomplished something I never thought was possible. I had stopped smoking cigarettes for a full two weeks. And then I was hit with an overwhelming feeling of freedom that scared the hell out of me. All of a sudden, I was an ex-smoker. What did that mean? Could I handle it? These were my subconscious thoughts at the time. They were buried feelings that were just being brought to the surface. At the time, these thoughts did not even register in my conscious mind. It was only something I realized after years of contemplation. Admittedly, not much contemplation. I spent years wanting to quit smoking, so much so that I would write about it in my journals almost on a daily basis, volumes of them. And after I "failed" to quit, I lost all motivation to quit. The thoughts of quitting completely left me. And they are only now starting to resurface again. I honestly don't know if I am ready or not. I can't picture my life after smoking. I just know that the only way I will ever be able to get through the hardest parts of quitting is through very dramatic means. And for me, that means taking a long hike, exploring one of my favorite places, a place I've only seen a fraction of in the two years I've lived in this state. I am very excited about my trip, and terrified. I feel the same way about quitting. I've had to deal with a lot of setbacks this month and I may not be able to go on my trip as soon as I would like. It may be the middle of July before I can take the three weeks away from work. But I will get there, and in the meantime, I will carefully plan out my upcoming experience, and I will consider my options for quitting. I do think that maybe, just maybe, quitting beforehand might be a good idea. I know I can go two weeks. And maybe the day that feeling of terrifying freedom hits me again, that will be the day I need to hop in my Jeep and begin my hike, without stopping anywhere to pick up smokes on the way, lol. Again, thank you. Somehow or another, I'll make this work. The hardest part for me, and probably many others, is taking that first step. I have to push past a great deal of resistance in order to have that empowering "I can do this!" feeling.
-rswfire
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]7/1/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] -16
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] -400
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $-80.00
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 0 [B]Seconds:[/B] -151715
-
Quit Meter
$227,075.00
Amount Saved
-
Quit Meter
Days: 7312
Hours: 4
Minutes: 58
Seconds: 59
Life Gained
-
Quit Meter
45415
Smoke Free Days
-
Quit Meter
908,300
Cigarettes Not Smoked
