Kat's 6 Month Smoke Free Milestone

I woke up 6 months ago with a sharp pain in my chest. It wasn't a new pain, I'd been having those for awhile and just put them off like any other ache/glitch/heave that I felt through the years. What really got me was that I was promising myself that I would never hit over my mid-30s smoking. Gone where the days that it was perceived to be "cool" when you had a cigarette. Especially here in Southern California, people gave you dirty looks when you smoked....

Did I want to persist and keep sucking away at that cancer stick? I made it appear in every aspect of my life. Be it joy, sorrow, anger, anxiety and boredom, the cigarettes were there. My husband had been pleading with me that he wanted to spend a lifetime with me and I was robbing him of that by continuously smoking. YEARS he asked me to quit smoking and I just told him, "I will, I will." But I never did.

I had so many reservations, a lot of pushback why I shouldn't even try to quit. It's too hard, the withdrawal symptoms are too scary, I'll have nothing to fall back on if I get tense.....just a bunch of excuses. So I told myself, if I didn't do it at that time, I never would. I had bought a box of patches because I needed to have *something* to keep me from the act of smoking for at least a few days. I read what I could about the patches and bought the cheapest brand I could find.

Someone told me that if I wanted to make my quit successful I needed to find a support person and/or group. I looked up what I could in my area but didn't have the *time* to go over to the meetings. Since this was the age of the Internet why not look up groups online. Thus I found myself on the About.com Smoking Cessation site and forum.

Diving right in I found incredible support and some wonderful folks that cared enough about me to walk me through some very dark times in my early stages. Reading and posting became a staple for me these last months. I scared myself straight reading others' tragic stories but felt empowered by those so far into their quits they forgot how it felt to smoke.

Smoking robs us all of our lives and affects those who love us. Why do we need to perpetuate the habit? My smokescreen got lifted. I embraced the fact that I no longer wanted to smoke and felt it would help me a lot to be able to give back to the community that affirmed my quit status. Hence I am here before you.

I am full of gratitude and wonderment at how generous this forum can be. We are all brought here by the common bond of smoking cessation. Regardless of the journey, the end result is most important. Let us stay quit, together.

Peace and love to all.

Kat's One Year Smoke Free Milestone