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Showing content with the highest reputation on 03/12/15 in all areas

  1. You know, I think that an awful lot of us finally quit smoking because we were facing some serious life issues. It could be the illness or death of a close friend or family member. It could be a health scare of our own. It could be the start (or end) of a relationship or a job or a new home. Maybe we just graduated from college or are about to retire. It just seems that very often something happens in our life to shake us up and make us decide "That's it! I don't want to live this way any more. I need to make some changes in my life and the first one is I am going to quit smoking!" For sure, that's what happened to me. My older brother was diagnosed with stage IV cancer from out of the blue. I quit my job and eventually took early retirement to help care for him. Then he died, leaving my 92 year old mother living alone. And my sister had some type of emotional melt-down and is no longer speaking to me. So I lost both of my siblings and my job (and my income) and took on more care of my mother all within one year. Then I quit smoking. Quitting smoking was something concrete that I could do to improve my life and my health. It was something that was totally in my control. I quit to help me transition to a new phase in my life-- retired. I didn't have to be afraid of retirement--I was going to quit smoking and get healthier and more vigorous and have a wonderful time in my senior years! I wasn't going to die young like my brother did! Well, I did quit smoking but I didn't do anything else to improve my life. I didn't get fit (I am less fit because I gained weight this past year). I haven't figured out how to have a happy and meaningful existence in retirement. It turns out that quitting smoking alone-- while very important, difficult and laudatory-- is not enough. I think that I figured out that it's now time for me to turn my attention and my efforts away from quitting smoking and towards other things I need to do to "get back to where I once belonged" (as the song goes). As I said, waking up my creative side will be a helpful step for me. Getting back to regular exercise is imperative. Probably getting a part time job would be a good thing, too. I'm glad that my "confession" helped other people realize that in addition to quitting smoking, there are some other things they want to do to enhance the quality of their lives. When you are feeling relatively confident in your quit, do try to implement some of the other life-enhancing plans you have been thinking about. Just the fact that you quit smoking means that you really want to have a happier, healthier more fulfilling life. So go for it! The time is now!
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QuitTrain®, a quit smoking support community, was created by former smokers who have a deep desire to help people quit smoking and to help keep those quits intact.  This place should be a safe haven to escape the daily grind and focus on protecting our quits.  We don't believe that there is a "one size fits all" approach when it comes to quitting smoking.  Each of us has our own unique set of circumstances which contributes to how we go about quitting and more importantly, how we keep our quits.

 

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