Um, okay, not quite, but actually it wasn't half as hard as I thought it was going to be six months ago when I slapped the first nicotine patch on my arm and braced myself for pure skin crawling, hair tearing out hell. Of course, that's not to say my skin didn't crawl a bit and yes, I had a few hair tearing out moments. All in all though, every smokefree day, week and certainly every smoke free month I put behind me, I find this process gets easier and easier.
Now it has been six whole months. Half a year. These are some of the changes I have noticed as a result of my decision to quit:
- I think of myself as a non-smoker. My apartment is a non-smoker's apartement.
- My clothes and hair haven't smelled like smoke in six months, they smell clean and fragrant.
- My skin looks and feels better and people I haven't seen in a while have commented on the difference.
- I have not been sick once in these six months. As a smoker I seemed to catch colds (bad ones) every couple of months.
- I have so much energy. Waking up in the morning is a whole new experience.
- It is allergy season for me and I actually feel fine. Normally I would be sneezing, coughing, nose running and miserable for all of April.
- When commercials about quitting smoking come on the T.V. I can actually watch them without guilt, shame, fear and even agree with what they are saying and know that they are right.
- This may sound strange, but, I also feel like I stand up for myself more than I used to as a smoker. Maybe this has to do with the fact that quitting smoking is a way of being good to yourself...taking care of yourself and taking responsibility for your actions.
