Joe(BAYMAN48) Reaches The One Year Mark

"The most important thing in determining your success is your attitude..."

One Year Recap:

July 4, 2002; 9:57am

DANG! - No Smokin' for: 1 Year, 2 minutes, 24 seconds.

Just copied that from my quit meter...hard to believe, but like I've heard many others say..."If I can do it, you can do it." To tell you the truth, I never thought I'd be here. I failed at quitting so many times; I was about to give up trying. So what made the difference this time...read on...

First, I apologize for the long post. I'll try not to make it too boring, but hopefully it will be of some value to people that are at any stage of quitting, or those who are thinking about quitting.

I've been a smoker for 35+ years, starting in my mid-teens, probably like most of us did. So I really didn't know what it was like to be an adult non-smoker. I have probably been trying to quit for 15 years, with little success. I can't remember how many times I quit on my birthday...sometimes for a week, or two weeks, or a few days...sometimes for only a few hours. I got so tired of failing, I even stopped trying for a few years. So what made this time any different? Probably a number of things, such as: attitude, research, knowledge, planning, journal, quit aids, support, prayer, rewards, problem solving, etc. Let me talk a little about each of them.

Attitude: Without a doubt, the most important thing in determining your success is your attitude, or how you approach and move through your quitting process. You can do all the planning in the world; have all the aids; all the support, etc., but if your heart isn't in it, you will fail. And however you do it, you have to make quitting the most important thing in the world for you, at least in the beginning. I remember one day, probably in my first few weeks, which I told my wife "Look, right now you just are not important to me." Now, that's a terrible thing to say to your spouse, and I know it upset her. I later had to explain to her that a lot of smoking crap was going though my head at the time, and the last thing I wanted to do was smoke again. I said "I'm sorry, but I must make quitting the most important thing in my life right now, even if it has to be the only thing in my life right now. I must beat this now, or I never will. Again, I'm sorry that you must suffer because of my addiction. I'll make it up to you some day." She, of course, understood, but I had to explain it to her...and it helped me too. Again, make quitting not just a priority; make it the most important thing in your life, at least in the beginning, and for as long as it takes.

Research: I did a lot of research before quitting this time. I learned what smoking really is - an addiction and a habit; what it does; how it "medicates" you; how it kills you, and how others successfully beat their addiction/habit. There are tons of research sites available on the Internet. This About.com site has a lot of helpful information, and links to other resources. There are also books, magazine articles, friends, and many other sources of smoking and cessation information and advice available. Don't stop researching. Find out all you can.

Knowledge: Of course, all that research created a lot of personal knowledge; and knowledge is power. Knowing what smoking is, how your body responds to it, and why, helps you understand what your body is going through when you quit. Knowing what to expect during the withdrawal phase is very helpful. Just knowing that what you are experiencing is normal, helps you to cope with the withdrawal symptoms. And, of course, knowledge enables you to form that positive attitude that is so important.