Wow, first day back to school since my last class ended. As I said before, this is another hurdle I will have to face as I keep going in my smoke-free life. Really want to have a smoke after completing something. In this case, completing my first class. I must remember, cigarettes are not a celebration or a reward. All they do is take, take, take. They take you away from others as you isolate yourself to smoke. They take your breath away with every puff you take. They slowly take your looks town the tube with every puff as well.
I asked my mother once what cancer was like. She was the one who took care of my Grandmother towards the end of her battle with lung cancer. She said that it was like someone slowly taking your breath away. I didn't coprehend this concept until the last part of my smoking days. I have asthma, and smoking was certainly in the process of doing this to me.
Today, after 2 weeks of not smoking, I walked to the dog park, which is down the street from my house. I wouldn't have even thought of attempting this before because #1, cold weather/air makes my asthma act up and I would be hacking all the way. #2, the road that the park is on is shaped kind of like a 'U', so you're looking at climbing some hills going there and back. I didn't think I could do this without getting out of breath.
Well, guess what? I did it. And better yet, I could breathe! No coughing, no pausing, no inhaler afterwards. Pretty awesome. They say you don't know what you have til it's gone. I say, you don't know what you had until it's gone...and then get it back again. Yes, my muscles are sore, buts that's a light price to pay for breathing like I used to.
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Way to go. I used to smoke myself but more of a social smoker. My boyfriend however was a lot like you, an athsmatic, chronic, 2 packs a day, stress smoker. He's only 31 and was sounding pretty bad, scary actually. Not only was he coughing real bad but his voice also was bad. On top of that he is I guess an alcoholic which made smoking worse because he would smoke more while drinking. Any way he is just shy of one year not smoking, but went back to an old habit he had before cigs. CHEW. He went from one bad thing to another. He is one of those kinds of people that form habits real easy and don't let them go easily. So I'll just do what I did when he smoked NAG NAG. Haahaa. But to you I'm glad you can breath.
ReplyDeleteI quit smoking December 11 when I was hospitalized with pneunomia. I was in the hospital for 8 days, very serious. It wasn't smoking that caused the illness, but it didn't help me to get better. What turns out I have Valley Fever, which is something newcomers to the desert get. It is a spore that gets in the lung and can cause problems. Sometimes goes undetected, but in my case I got sick and couldn't shake it and it turned into pneunomia.
ReplyDeleteWhat I have is an electric cigarette. It has vapor, nothing harmful for my lungs, but it does have nicotine. So that has helped me with the habit. Oh I am stressed, I need a smoke. The biggest problem I have is all my friends smoke. You know smokers relate to smokers.
Good luck to you. I fight it every minute of every day.
Hey Amanda,
ReplyDeleteBreathe! Breathe! Breathe! Enjoy breathing! Every day. Soon you will be doing Zumba!