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Quitting smoking proved to be the easiest hardest thing I ever did. That I hated smoking and quit so many times bears this declaration out. But one thing I do know is that once I got to a certain point in a quit it did get easier, however another thing that I know is that there is no safe distance in a quit and that I must be vigilant; forever. This requires a plan.
For almost every one of the many failed quits (and there where many) I can blame myself for not planning properly. Sometimes I would just quit after lighting up the first cigarette of a new pack and then chuck the rest of the unused ones in the trash. Other times all I would do was pick a date and that was the extent of the plan which of course failed.
As with most people the turn of the year is always ripe for resolutions and I was an active participant. There was the old ad hoc plan of quitting for the New Year and stating off right, smoke free. For me it was staring right back up after the hangover wore off on New Year’s Day. So, so much for the New Years resolution quitting smoking plan.
Still, other times I would plan to start using the patch and would get three or four days into a quit and then “forget” to put the patch on before leaving the house to go to work where I would either buy a pack or start grubbing. Speaking of grubbing I remember quits where my simple plan was just to not buy cigarettes. This plan was somewhat successful as I went days without buying a pack of cigarettes but I never stopped smoking. I just switched to OPC’s (that’s Other Peoples Cigarettes for those of you who have not done it).
Anyway, as part of my continued efforts to stay quit I plan ahead. From the beginning of this quit I planned and I planned and I found out that this quit is the most successful because I planned ahead. I picked a date. I picked a quit aid, the patch. I picked a substitution; bottles of water. I picked a way to keep track, I counted days. I chose to tell everyone (including on-line at QSJ), I started major dental work, I changed my diet, I avoided certain people, I embraced certain people and I rewarded myself when I could.
As I cross my three year milestone I still plan. I will stop counting days and switch to years and months when I write or talk about my quit. This will give it more legitimacy in my mind. I will focus more attention on my health and ways to improve it. I will continue to refine my diet so as to stay at my ideal weight of 150 pounds. I have started a plan to exercise more and to participate in more physical activities.
And then there’s the most important plan of all, education. I will continue to educate myself on improving my quality of life in any way that I can so as to have more of it. I will also offer to those who seek it, an education on why not to smoke and if you do on how to quit it; forever.
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