Dave's Journey to Stop Smoking

Dave's Work to Stop Smoking Begins

Moving the calendar ahead a few more years, I tried stop smoking programs wherever I could, but didn't really pay attention to what they had to offer. I tried to quit cold turkey many times, but it was always the same as quitting for Lent. The day would come when I'd put up "just this one" again. It was a never ending cycle of failed attempts to stop smoking.

Then, one cool California rainy day I saw a newspaper ad for SmokeEnders, one of only two public smoking cessation programs available at that time. The ad invited smokers to a free orientation meeting at a local motel dining room. I attended and listened for one hour. In that time I heard enough to make me believe that this would be it -- at last. I signed up for the program, paid a deposit to guarantee that I would return, and went home to figure out where I was going to get the $400 U.S. dollars needed to pay for the program. It was an unheard of amount for the poorly paid Postal clerk that I was at that time. Thank God credit cards were available then.

SmokEnders was a behavioral modification and awareness type of program. There were no quit aid products of any kind around back then. Program members followed a plan each week with assignments that would help us make specific changes in our behavior. Weekly lessons were presented by a woman named Jacqueline Rogers, the founder of SmokEnders. Jackie had spent two years studying and putting this fantastic program to stop smoking together, and it approached the process from every possible angle.

What I learned in that program spurred me to search out avenues where I could share the blessings I had received with other desperate smokers looking for ways to stop smoking. It is the same philosophy that I try to present today when posting messages on the smoking cessation forum. I try to be gentle but firm, never insulting, but with no soft pedaling or beating around the bush.

I worked for the SmokEnders program part-time, and signed up with various charitable organizations, schools, and companies that sponsored programs to help people stop smoking. I always volunteered my time because I knew this was the way I would find my joy and happiness. I wanted to be able to concentrate on the programs, not the money.

The "frosting on my cake" was discovering that the Veterans Administration some 30 miles from my home presented a smoking cessation program every Friday for military veterans, many of whom have been through more hellish experiences than one might imagine. These are primarily vets in their 50's and 60's who have smoked 40 years or more, on average. For the past 15 years, it has been the focus of my life to assist these people in their quest to stop smoking. This work brings me more pleasure than can even be imagined.

I have received that same "rush" for the past three years, since discovering this forum. I searched and found exactly what I was looking for -- a wonderful place to continue this life-saving mission I've been on for many more years. It has been a gift for me to have the opportunity to share the experience of my past 29 years of smoke-freedom.

Stop Smoking and Start Living

• Two heart attacks

• Two strokes

• One triple heart bypass surgery

• Congestive heart failure

• Congestive heart disease

• Vascular arterial disease surgery

• Carotid artery surgery

• Pacemaker installation

• How Smoking Harms Us: Head to Toe

Dave

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