After a year.

On 04/12/2012, it was 12 months since I began my road to better health.  It was bloody hard for a while, no doubt. I constantly had this empty feeling inside.  It was a bit like when your on a diet and you feel hungry, but your not really, so yes, I put on weight.  I gave myself 12 months to be a work in progress.  My goal was after 12 months I would be healthier, fitter and back to my pre giving up smoking weight.  I am pleased to say I reached my goal.  I can now run 5km without stopping. This is something I couldn't do before as I would get so breathless.  I have gone from thinking constantly about cigarettes to only thinking very briefly about them once in a blue moon, and then it's a thought of how glad I am I no longer have to smoke.  It has taken me a few attempts, but I read the book by Allan Carr - How to Stop Smoking, and I owe a lot of my success to this book.  It gave me the right mind set to stop.  As the book points out, don't think of it as "giving up smoking" as to give up something is usually a bit of a sacrifice and hard to do.  But if we look at it as choosing to "stop smoking", it puts a more positive spin on it.  It is our choice, not something we have to "give up".  I kept a packet of cigarettes in a drawer and they are still there today, untouched. I would look at them and say to myself that I don't want to suck on a stick of poison, and mentally picture the smoke swirling down my lungs with all the chemicals and crap that will eventually kill me.  No, not happening, get back in your box.  I feel so much more relaxed now I don't smoke as nicotene and all the other poisons actually irritate the nervous system, so when I would say I needed a smoke because I was stressed, I was actually making myself more stressed and irritable.  I wish I could wave a magic wand so everyone that is thinking about stopping, or limping along in their effort, would feel like I feel 12 months on.  You have to keep saying to yourself that each day without a cigarette is that much more closer to peace.  It really does happen. Getting to that point isn't easy, but it is managable and achievable...if it is what you want.  If you slip up and have a puff, don't think you have failed.  Just remind yourself of why you wanted to stop and is this still the case for you.  Oh, and in 2013, I am going on an overseas holiday, with half of the cost of the trip being from money I saved from not smoking. I am so glad I don't have to worry about going without a cigarette in hotels or airplanes & airports, worrying about when and where I was going to have the next smoke.  There really is so much more joy in not smoking than smoking and a couple of years ago I would never have dreamed I would be one of those people saying this.  That's the best thing............I stopped smoking and now I can do anything I put my mind to.