At 3PM yesterday afternoon, March 23,2011, I smoked my last cigarette – at least I won’t be smoking any today. I can’t make any promises about tomorrow. Today there will be no butts in my life.
I have been an active smoker for about 20 years. My story is similar to all those who have found their lives chained to the end of a cancer stick. I was 20 years old. I had friends who smoked, I thought it made me cool and wild. Now I’m in my 40′s and it makes me look stupid and will make me die sooner than necessary so I quit.
I have been taking the stop smoking drug Chantix for a week and half. My official quit date should have been last Saturday but I have smoked a little up through yesterday and now I feel as if I am ready to stop. The 6 cigarettes I smoked yesterday didn’t even give me the “Ahhhhh” feeling I am used to getting from a puff or two.
I won’t lie, I have a secret cheat. If I feel like I’m about to bum a smoke and head outside I have some nicotine lozenges and I’m not afraid to use them.
All the quit smoking websites say you should reward yourself at milestones. For me I’m looking at a 31 day milestone. At that point I will have saved enough money (from not purchasing cigarettes) to buy a very nice Keurig Coffee pot. That means on Saturday April 23rd I will become the owner of one of those magic little coffee machines. (YUM!).
As for this week. I am going to allow myself to pretty much eat what I like and snack when I want. One week only of this behavior or my health concerns about smoking will turn to health concerns about things like diabetes.
Although this is my 6th attempt to quit smoking in the past 20 years, this is the first time I am actually doing it for myself. This isn’t about anyone or anything but ME! I’m going to be a super selfish bitch and quit just because I want to keep on living a long life to torment those around me and trust me once I conquer this beast I am going to rub it in big time!
Every time I hear “I can’t” from someone I am probably going to have to retort, “You can’t? really? Seriously? I quit smoking after 20 years – don’t tell ME you can’t!”
Oh wow – that is motivation.
