Out of the BLUE
Quitting cigarettes was a JOURNEY!
It was one that I did not plan for, nor wanted. I LOVED smoking. As I'm sure all of us have/did/do.
Newport 100's was my choice. Before i get to HOW/WHY/WHEN i quit i want to talk about how it all began.
I never wanted to smoke. My parents, brother, sister smoked, and as a kid/teenager i thought it was NASTY and swore i would neverrrrr pick it up (insert eye roll here)
Then at 16 i was dating a guy that smoked. DING DING DING you guessed it i followed suit. For 13 years we continued the bad habit....loving every moment of it.
Belive it or not im STILL with him. ANNNNNDDDD we BOTH quit....COLD TURKEY. Yes we are still both alive and in one piece :)
His quit date September 3rd 2018
My quit date September 5th 2018
He has TWO days on me. This is because on September 3rd 2018 he was admitted into the ICU for cardiac patients. Diagnosis....Congestive Heart Failure at 29 years old! I still tell him if he had the chance to smoke for 2 more days he would have in a heart beat (See what i did there)
The hospital he was staying at was a nightmare to find somewhere to smoke! Everywhere you went there was NO SMOKING signs.. and people that enforced it! I was caught many times.
Then on the 5th of september it was a BADDD day. I thought i was going to loose the love of my life, and had been with out a smoke ALL day. Not wanting to leave his side, his mother showed up and i snuck out to have a smoke.
I took 2 drags..looked down at the cigg.. thought what am i doing down here away from my loved one..when he is fighting for his life...flicked the ciggurate and stated IM DONE. Well i thought we would most like start smoking again if/when he was out of the hospital...but thats the thing we DIDNT.
People ask me HOW DID YOU DO ITTT. Till this day i dont know how to answer that question... i just didnt smoke. I wanted to there was times were the craving's were INSANE!
I did it for my loved one..he COULDNT smoke any more due to his heart condition and i new if i continued he would as well.
I will have NINE months on the 5th of June.
One thing i can say is it DOES get easier the more time you have.
There ARE still times were you think "MAN i would love a smoke!"
Some tips?....
Well till this day i DONT drink coffee at my house..big trigger for me
For the first 3 months i DIDNT drink alcohol-Another HUGE trigger for me
Take a deep breath...you feel that? My lungs feel amazing..on those hard days i breath DEEP..as DEEP as you can..and you will feel that... and think WOW i can breath
The CAR! Another huge trigger for many. For many months i ALWAYS carried hard candy in my car, it helped...a little. It sucks..but again you do forget about it with the more time you have.
After eating is another hard one. It was are desert. Again this one sucked, i dont know how i fought through it but again it gets easier.
I hope everyone is haveing a wonderful evening!
If you are struggeling today...its okay.. there will be bad days...but you are doing it! Your wonderful.
If you sliped and had one today..Its okay.. your TRYING..keep up the good work its not easy. You will get it this time!
I enjoyed reading your story Angelina and glad that is has a happy ending. Congratulations to you both for 9 months free of the terrible addiction.and the opportunity to continue your lives together.
How do we get to the point that we value cigarettes more than life?
Oh yeah, we didn't really, it was the vile nicotine addiction that we succumbed to, didn't choose. We let ourselves get caught up in its tangled web of lies and buried our heads in the sand for decades. Once we lifted out heads and saw the light, the perception changed.
Freedom can be anyones who want to see. Don't wait for it to come Out Of The Blue.
Looks like you had a picture of the future in front of you at that critical time. So strong mentally to overcome the addiction Good for you both Angelainade
The longer you are off the cigs the easier it gets. The thought of having a puff becomes a distant memory and one starts to wonder why was I smoking in the first place? That’s the time you have to be most vigilant and not to succumb to the temptation to try just one puff because one puff will lead to more puffs and before you know it you become a full fledged smoker again. At least that’s what happened to me a couple of times prior to this final quit. Stress is another factor that we must watch out for. I hope the love of your life is fully recovered and both of you are enjoying smoke free life. Stay strong and vigilant. Your note of encouragement means a lot to me because it validates my quit. All the best.