Kerri Quit Smoking 2 Years Ago

"You don’t just quit smoking and you are done."

Life is full of “eureka moments”. Those moments where everything suddenly seems clear. You finally understand what your algebra teacher means by FOIL. You get the ballerina act that it takes to drive a stick. You figure out what your new baby means when he cries a certain way.

I had a eureka moment in my cessation process when I was 4 months in...the moment when I realized how much freedom from nicotine meant in the equation of my life. I’ll copy it here, I posted it on the forum. It was such a simple moment that aligned my stars:

One of the things I couldn't do before was take the kids to the beach. I couldn't go long enough without smoking and there's nowhere to hide either!

My 3 year old asked me today if we could go to the beach...someone at his daycare had mentioned it. It was a really cold day, so I said no, we couldn't. Well, he asked me if it was really far and it dawned on me how much I had actually been depriving this child. We live 2 miles away from 2 miles of beautiful beaches. So, I scooped him up in just his jammies and socks and down to the beach we went.

I told him we couldn't get out of the car because he wasn't dressed, but then said, what the heck. We got out and cuddled and listened to the waves and he just looked at me and said, "The beach is great, Mom." I put him down in the sand and let him run around in his socks.

We spent the whole darn summer at the beach my first year smoke free. I spent a good amount of my time doing things I could never do as a smoker. I chaperoned field trips, started running, went out all day with the kids, saw long movies…it gave me reinforcement for when it was tough. I surrounded myself with reasons to stay smoke free, made darn sure I enjoyed my freedom enough so that it was something I would die to protect.

The most important thing I realized was that this was something I had to continue to work at...like a relationship.

Quitting smoking is a process, not an event.

You don’t just quit smoking and you are done. There’s a lot of soul searching and relearning to do. Thankfully, I found the forum 9 days into my quit. That relearning process was guided by people who came before me and man, did we have some laughs! Who knew it could be fun to quit smoking?

My second year smoke free I spent training for the biggest event of my life (that didn’t include my children). I trained to run a half marathon. The race was in October and I ran it like my life depended on it...13.1 miles in 2 hours and 2 minutes.

My third year smoke free I am going to train for a full marathon. It’s in October this year and I am counting this as the biggest event of my life. My family is behind me and so incredibly proud.

We continue to play hard as a family: football, baseball, beach trips, etc. There is such a difference in our family dynamic since I quit; we can do so much more together.

My meter just turned, and my son is still up because he has a couple of friends over. I called him to see and he threw his arms around me and whispered in my ear,“awesome, Mom”. I burst into tears.

I didn’t think words could describe how I feel at this point in my quit, but I hope you get it.

More from Kerri:
Kerri's Quit Story
5 Months and a Sock
Kerri's 6 Month Milestone
Kerri Quit Smoking One Year Ago
Why Quit Smoking While You're Young

Published: 2-5-2006