Jonny5

Quit Date: 2011-12-21

Posted April 28, 2014 

We are all on board the quit train, chugging away to our destination, but where is that destination, when will you have arrived?

the secret for me is that the train is very much like a child's train set, it has elaborate bridges, tunnels, stations etc, but ultimately the train is on a continuous loop.

there are many stations where we pick up passengers, there's Cold Turkey Park, Patch Junction, E-cig Crossing, Grand Gum Central, and loads more that I've run out of names for  but you get the point, we all start our journeys in different places.

We all bring various amounts of baggage with us, sometimes our baggage takes up more room on the train than we do ourselves.  this is often the case for a new passenger.  The other occupants of the carriage are a little more experienced, and they soon help the new rider to pack away the baggage neatly, and in many cases the new rider realises that they have packed a whole load of junk that is weighing them down, so they toss it out the window, bit by bit.  sometimes it's harder for folk to let go of certain belongings, items that they have held on to for years, often these false idols weigh down the passenger more than they can comprehend, but life without these false idols feels kind of raw, naked if you like, it can feel like you are loosing your very identity, until of course that you realise that your identity was one of addiction, not of choice.

Along the journey, we pass through many seasons and triggers, some of us for the first time, and some of us for the hundredth time.  they are frightening first time around, but we soon get used to them, and our companions comfort us and prepare us, and they warn us in advance.  We soon get used to them.

We pass through Cliche Canyon, here we stop for a while to stretch our legs, and to reaffirm the things we have learned along the way.  we make up songs and rhymes, and acronyms for the newbies to sing, so that they remember that One Equals All, so that they know to Never Take Another Puff, and that Not One Puff Ever will keep them safe.

The most treacherous part of the journey is Relapse Ravine, it lays just beyond Memory Lane, somewhere after passing through No man's Land. This can be the most lonely part of the journey, A passenger can be sitting in one of the quiet carriages, the newbie coach has gotten a bit too noisy for them, they sit and stare out of the window, gazing down memory lane, dreams of a long lost romance can fill their hearts and minds, and can drive them crazy.  some of these passengers will go and chat to the newbies, they understand that they may need to be reminded of the early struggles, some of them ask the olde phartes what to do.  But some unfortunately climb on the roof,  bypassing the SOS safety rail, and throw themselves into relapse ravine, looking for their lost love.

It is important to remember that when we are smokers, that was our comfort zone, It is not the zone that we have to live in if we wish to break free.  Some of you won't like the way others will try to pull you out of that comfort zone, some of you will flourish upon it. some will take offence.   There are many methods, and all of us are teachers and students when it comes to learning about how to get through to someone. However in the field of smoking cessation, and specifically of learning to be a happy non smoker, well it's like learning to read.  you just do it, and then you know it, it doesn't take effort to remember how to do it, and no more learning will be needed to stop you from forgetting it.  You just can, or you can not.  My ability to read is not something I feel complacent about, it's something I feel confident about.

there are some people on the train, who are really just riding it because they know that the train is run by volunteers, and they volunteer their time, and experience, to pay for the free ticket that was once passed to them by a friendly face many years before.  Sometimes they challenge the distorted logic of the junkie, out of love and compassion for the person trapped inside, the person that reminds them of themselves, sometimes they get hugged, and sometimes they get shouted at.  they know the risks of engaging the junkie, they were once the junkie too, they mostly say the things that are now so obvious to them, but once were not. They have ridden the train so much, that they know every single inch of track, they know it inside out.  and they knew the moment they reached their destination.  It was the same destination for all of them.  it was the place where they found inner peace, no junkie chatter, no doubt, no desire or need to smoke, and no way on earth to return to smoking, without making a deliberate decision to sign up for slow suicide.

I believe that is the destination that we are all trying to reach, regardless of where we boarded the train, and regardless of how rough or smooth, or long, or short our journey was.

I sincerely look forward to welcoming you there, each and every last one of you.

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