Kate18

NOPE And Happy 2022! Health (we're healthier because we don't smoke), prosperity (we're more prosperous when we don't spend money on nicotine), and happiness (and we lead longer lives to be happy with people we love).

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Merry Christmas, Doreen. Thank you for all of your caring support throughout the year--years.

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Chickens? You have chickens? (I used to have them; great fun!) NOPE

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Beautiful. I've never seen one before. And, NOPE

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Wow, Doreen, where did you get it? I'd be happy to wear a button on my work apron at my job.

For a while I would forget to pledge because I wasn't thinking about smoking. I thought, "well, forgetting to pledge because I'm not thinking of smoking is a good thing." No, it isn't a good thing. Nicotine addiction is serious. We may not think of it as serious because cigarettes are legal, but it is a life-destructive addiction. No, every day, I want to reaffirm that I am nicotine free, that I don't smoke, that I have beat addiction. Every day I post a pledge that I will not smoke. It is on my calendar now, for the past few weeks, to post my pledge that I will not smoke. Not One Puff, Ever.

Wow. Thank you, this was great. Had a terrible day at work, and left half way through the day, trying to hide tears from being bullied. This made all the difference in regaining my composure.

I am so hoping, but feeling a twinge of wondering. The age to buy cigarettes where I live (in the Seattle area, Washington State) is 21. People have to show a photo ID to buy cigarettes. And still kids get hold of cigarettes and get addicted. Someone who gives tobacco in any form to a person under 21 years of age is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. That used to mean something. Now, recently, however, in Democratic-governed cities in the USA, criminals get out the same day they are arrested, without bail, and crimes like gross misdemeanors are ignored. So giving cigarettes or any other form of tobacco is going unnoticed. Sigh.

Ignore the slip. Get back to it. I was a serial quitter, seriously. I took me more than two years of attempts. I'd last for a month, a week, a day, two hours. And I'd slip. I wrote out my reasons, I copy/pasted gross pictures of the consequences of smoking--cancers of the mouth, gangrenous toes, etc. For a while, nothing worked. But I didn't quit on myself. I kept looking for a strong reason, an incontrovertible reason to quit. Mine was Covid. A smoker who gets Covid is asking for double trouble. Find your reason, and there won't be any more slips.

Hey @Sunshine59. Good for you for tackling addiction and striving for a life free of the awful expense and health issues. Regarding "workouts" that you mentioned: This may, at first thought, seem off the topic, but it really isn't. I heard that Queen Elizabeth II (current queen, of course) is very fit for a woman of 95 years. She doesn't work out and I wondered how that could be. I began watching videos on the science behind being fit and losing weight. Patching some of them together, a person can be reasonably fit (as is the gracious Queen) by getting out and walking briskly for 30 minutes a day, three times a week! Of course you can do more, but really, 30 minutes a day three times a week is pretty doable. And then there is the will to do it. Ah, well, it does take some inner motivation, I know. The other advantage of those three days a week is that it helps with staying smart, being able to learn better. Best of luck. You can do this. I think everyone can do this when they find their reason, develop a desire to truly be their best person. For me, it was Covid. Before it hit the USA, I remembered a presentation I attended where an epidemiologist presented a slide of how a pandemic would start and spread. When Covid was still in China, but spreading, I knew it was heading to the USA. I also knew that I'd likely succumb to fulminate lung failure as a smoker, if I got Covid. so I quit. A week later, Covid showed up about 15 miles north of me, in Kirkland, Washington. Finding your reason--that's the key.