On March 4th of this year is has been 29 years since I quit smoking.
I smoked for exactly 20 years. I started when I was 15 years old because most of my friends smoked and I wanted to be stupid like them. I pretty much smoked regularly except for the times when I was pregnant. I was able to refrain from smoking for those months but went right back to it right after the baby was born.
The last year or so that I smoked I absolutely hated it, and I also felt really stupid, especially if I was around people who didn't smoke. I smoked a pack a day and was pretty addicted. As soon as my feet hit the ground in the morning there was a cigarette in my mouth!
Plus it kept me thin! If I was hungry or craving something sweet I would have a cup of coffee and a cigarette and the craving would be gone!
But eventually everyone I knew that smoked started quitting one by one. I really wanted to be a non-smoker! The first time I tried I lasted 2 weeks before I caved in to the cravings which were relentless!
The year I turned 35 and realized that I smoked for 20 years I knew it was time to stop smoking once and for all! Lent was coming up so I decided I that would be a good time to try again. I figured that if I couldn't stand it after 40 days I would give myself an out and just start smoking again!
It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life! At the time I worked in a dental office about 8 miles away from my house. Every morning on my way to work and every evening on my way home I had to talk myself past every store and gas station where I used to stop and buy cigarettes!
I can't recall if I used anything for a crutch like chewing a straw or using nicotine gum. I just quit cold turkey. It was all or nothing for me! One thing I did have was a strong desire to be a non-smoker and worthy of my friends and family that either quit smoking or never smoked at all!
Another thing that helped was using shampoo's and soaps and lotions that smelled good. I was happy to not smell like a cigarette all the time!
My taste buds came back and food started tasting really good, too! Even a hot dog was dangerously delicious! It didn't take long for me to start gaining weight!
When the 40 days was up all I could think was that I never want to have to quit smoking again so I was never going back!
I used to dream that I started smoking again and would be so disgusted with myself! When I woke up I would be confused asking myself, "Did I really start smoking again?" What a relief to realize it was only a dream!
It took a good 6 months before I finally stopped thinking about having a cigarette 24 hours a day! Little by little the cravings went away and after about a year I didn't think much about it at all.
It goes without saying how glad I am now that I stuck with it. In 2008 when it had been 16 years since I quit smoking I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. The urologist asked me several times if I smoked. When I googled smoking and bladder cancer there was a article that said the toxins can stay in your body for up to 16 years after you quit! Luckily we caught the cancer very early and surgery removed it all.
One of my friends that I smoked with as a teenager never quit and she passed away from lung cancer before she was 58 years old.
So now it's been 29 years and I'm still pretty proud of myself and still occasionally kick myself for being so dumb when I was 15 years old!
Until the next time stay safe and well my friends!
Now this is a wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteHow proud you should be, of yourself! For getting the better, of a bad, bad, bad addiction. Smoking is bad for you. And quitting such a vicious addiction, is a huge, huge accomplishment.
Gentle hugs...
🌸🎀🌸🎀🌸🎀🌸
So glad you were able to kick the habit! And glad the cancer was caught early. Easter and hope is on the way.
ReplyDeleteFirst, congratulations! You are awesome, it takes someone really special to quit like this. My Mom did it. She had bladder cancer, too. It is on the rise, don't know why. It used to be kind of rare. And thanks so much for my Dollar Tree fix. I haven't been since the pandemic, and want to go so bad! So you have actually let me shop there. My very favorite is the one you bought. I may even have to get brave enough to go there and buy it!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! That is an amazing accomplishment. It sure is a good thing you quit when you did too, that bladder cancer might have been much worse if you had still been smoking!
ReplyDeleteI love all the pretty Easter stuff at Dollar Tree, can't beat it for a buck!
Congratulations on staying smoke free. I started smoking very young and smoked for a lot of years. I quit 3 different times. The first time for 6 months, the second time for a year and a half and the third time was April 30 2013. It's been almost 8 years since my last cigarette and I'm very glad that I made the choice to give it up. I did like you did, cold turkey. I was very determined to give it up. Now I can't stand the smell of it.
ReplyDeleteI applaud you for this amazing feat! Thank goodness you did it when you did; can you imagine the beating your body (and mind) would have taken if you were still smoking all these years?
ReplyDeleteI started as a teen too and casually smoked off and on for many years. Finally, in 1999 I said NO MORE and quit cold turkey as well. Now, I loathe the smell of ciggies. My dearest friend is still smoking and I'm on her back all the time about it.
Yay for Easter bargains!!
Good for you for quitting smoking all those years ago. Not an easy thing to do. Thankfully I that is something that I never did!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for staying smoking free. I have never smoked (have asthma)---I can't even be around anyone that does. ANYWAYS---I will have to go visit the Dollar store. I hope you have a beautiful day, friend. smiles
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your victory against smoking, Jeanette! Take a bow, you deserve it. I'm glad for your victory against bladder cancer too. You are a very victorious lady all the way around! Both my brothers & my Daddy died from lung cancer and all 3 smoked. My Daddy told me that when you were drafted into the army, for WWII, you HAD to smoke. If you didn't, the sargeant would light one up and PUT IT into your mouth for you. I think they thought that smoking would relieve stress or something. Anyway, I'm so glad you don't smoke anymore. You're a strong woman, kiddo! ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteI quit in 1980 or thereabouts. I quit many times before I succeeded, and it was so very hard that time, I swore I'd quit for good. I'm proud of anybody who can beat the habit. My dad quit smoking in his 40's, but he still died of lung cancer in 1987. What a miserable way to die!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud of you! Surely, you have great willpower, girl. I never knew you had bladder cancer but so very happy that got taken care of too.
ReplyDeleteI was in Dollar Tree today and saw all those things. :)
You're a special person to me, buddy.
xoxo
I started smoking about the same age as you...maybe even a little younger but for the same reason. I wanted to be as cool as I thought my friends were. I quit when I was in my early 20s. It was before I got pregnant the first time and my oldest was born when I was 25 so I must have been 22 or 23 when I quit. It was the best thing I ever did. At the time it was the hardest thing I ever went through but now that I’m about to be 58 I’ve been through things that were much more difficult.
ReplyDeleteWOW I have not "known" you for long, but I am so proud of you Jeanette. This is just wonderful and thank God the bladder cancer was in the early stages and could be treated successfully. This post made my day and I have shared it with TG.
ReplyDeleteI have never smoked and I can honestly say that I OFTEN thank God that I was never tempted to do so. As I grew up, both parents (mother and stepfather) smoked like fiends. My mother was born again and gave her life to the Lord in 1971 at the age of 34, and never smoked again. I never heard her talk about wanting a cigarette either, although I'm sure she did.
She told me that she began smoking at age 16 because she had married my father and he smoked and she thought it was glamorous because the beautiful women in the movies smoked. She said when she started smoking, it gagged her but she was determined to do it, and she did. I was born on the day I was due but weighed only 4 pounds and 12 ounces ... was Mom's smoking the culprit? Probably. I am just so thankful that she stopped. She died of pancreatic cancer late last year but she was 83 years old ... so, nearly 50 years smoke-free.
Congratulations to you on this momentous occasion. You are a great example. xoxo