The Great American Smokeout
Everyone knows smoking is bad for you and may cause cancer yet smoking continues. We are taught about the effects of smoking at an early age and many of us have even lost family members to lung cancer and STILL SMOKE! Watching my grandfather wither away and die from lung cancer was something that changed me forever. When my grandfather died he left a hole in my heart and I still miss him. I am just glad he was able to hold my son once before he passed.
You would think it would have been easy to quit smoking after experiencing something so horrible but I just couldn’t do it. I smoked for years afterwards until I could finally break free from my addiction. I tried patches and gum but nothing seemed to work. Well, patches and gum do work and I truly believe I just wasn’t ready to kick the habit. After years of failed attempts I finally gave it up and have been smoke free for almost a year now!
I really don’t think there is an EASY way to quit smoking. I craved cigarettes for months after I quit and let me tell you it was an utterly miserable experience for me and those around me. All I could think about some days was how much I could use a smoke. I don’t know what it was that finally gave me the strength to let go, perhaps it was just my time? Maybe quitting smoking is a process that is different for everyone?
It is easy to beat yourself up when you slip up and smoke a cigarette. All it took for me in all my failed attempts was one smoke. After I smoked a cigarette I would feel as though I would have to start all over again and that thought alone was so overwhelming. So much so that I would just keep on smoking because it was too hard to do it all over again.
Things weren’t much different for me this time either. I messed up several times and wanted to just give up too but I was able to pull it together by not even acknowledging how long I had gone. That way if I messed up it wasn’t that big of a deal. I knew I needed to “trick myself” psychologically and I am just thankful this one actually worked.
I don’t really know how to help anyone quit smoking. I think everyone has to do it in their own way and in their own time frame. To all of you out there trying to quit now I can truly say “I feel ya” and hope that if you mess up and smoke one you are able to just put it behind you and keep moving forward. Sometimes you just have to take it 10 minutes at a time. Don’t lose sight of your goal. Eventually you will no longer want a cigarette and for me it was when I messed up for the last time. The last cigarette I “snuck” tasted horrible, irritated my lungs, and didn’t even give me that “cigarette buzz” feeling. That is when I knew I had finally beaten the affliction. Let me tell you the happiness I felt when I realized I would never smoke another cigarette was amazing. I just wish my grandfather could have done the same thing so he could have been here to see how far my family and I have come. I know he would have been proud. We are finally at a point in our lives that we could have given back to him but unfortunately because of his choices he is no longer able to share in our lives.
Know you know my story I hope to learn some of yours. DO you know someone who is struggling to quit? Have cigarettes taken someone from you?
If so join us this Thursday for the national Great American Smokeout. The Department of Health’s Tobacco Free Florida Program is encouraging Floridians to join the movement and share their reasons for being tobacco free! Whether you quit or have never smoked a day in your life, write your reason for being tobacco free on your hand, snap a pic, and share via social media using #MyHandMyReason.
If there is anything I can do to help you quit smoking just let me know. I have tried just about everything and know how hard it is. Regardless, just stamp it out. The life you save could be your own.
