It became very apparent as my son grew to have over 20 pounds that it was not that hard to keep him in a backpack to carry him around. The pains that would occur when I attempted to pick him up and toss him around, much to his excitement, signaled that a change was needed, very soon.
Being a young man, I earned my first monies by mowing grass, up to 6 yards a week, which was always preceded and followed by my 100 house paper route. Through so many years, it was easy to do, stamina was built up, so there was no major exertion going on.
Now here I was, 26, but losing my breath just simply trying to play with my son. I would be sore, but never really seeming to have any real gains from this type of activity. I recalled the previous year, for the first time in many years, I had a lawn to mow. Sickness to my stomach, profuse sweating, gasping for air, I had to do small patches at a time.
Even with all the exertion and the over-exertion at that, I would promptly enjoy a smoke. I had attempted many years before to work out at a gym. Things went very bad, as I was very sick, headaches, throwing up. Once again, when I was able to breathe, I enjoyed a smoke.
I wanted to stop, but only once did I quit for about a month, only to start again during a period of stress. No gum, patch or spray was used, just cold turkey.
Finally, I had enough. Seeing a friend who has a father who practices ear, nose and throat medicine, I got the normal lecture that had failed before. Then my friend who is now a cariologist made this statement:
- "It's not fair to say that everyone who smokes gets cancer of some type. It is more truthful to say that of people who have lung cancer, most are smokers."
The circumstances were right; I had heard what I needed to digest. My motivations were many to quit, and I was already slowing down my smoking. Switching to an ultra light wasn't the right thing - you drag differently to get more. From what I read and was told, you may get cancer deeper in the lungs by doing that.
So I quit using a patch cut in half, secured with medical tape(21 mg, or roughly 10 mg) and 2 mg gum when I needed that extra little bit. The first three days were harder, but I resisted having 'just one'. My demeanor was not that of a raging bull. I wanted to quit - I had resolve to quit. There was no one but ME to blame for starting to smoke in the first place.
Only about 12 days after stopping smoking did I try to mow the lawn for the first time. I had no idea it was that impaired by smoking. I just kept mowing, not even with a self-propelled mower. I didn't have to stop at all; my breathing wasn't fast and furious. It was controlled, even and most of all, it felt great!
So, here I am today, on my first full month of not a single breakdown. I have no one tracking me, it's only for the internal congrats of stopping, fully knowing that every week I get stronger.
I felt that I should let others know the gains I have seen, that possibly it will help you decide to stop for good, or shore up your resolve by letting you know what I felt.
- I deal with problems now instead of smoking them out. For the first two weeks, I did feel a bit 'blonde', but that is gone now.
- I can my mow my entire lawn plus more and not totally sap my strength.
- My lungs continue to feel more 'spring', elastic and clear every single day.
- I get to sleep faster, but also have better quality sleep.
- I can taste more flavor in food.
- I could smell a fire in my home now.
- I know from across the room that a diaper does in fact need to be changed.
- I save almost an hour or more a day that I would normally spend just 'relaxing' by doing nothing helpful.
- I can have sexual relations without feeling like I am having a heart attack. Too many improvements to list here, but if you are a guy, some of the changes will surprise you.
- My breath smells better, or maybe I am compelled to brush my teeth now that I can taste and smell bad breath.
- I am saving $20 per week right now.
