Not an option

[Abby]

(Caps for emphasis only) 

Ug ! You know the times when you don't feel well and you feel like a truck ran over you ? Well I had lots of those days ; today is another. Those kinds of days were days that I figured smoking would fix everything ! Not anymore :) 

 

Ok, so its a bad day .. Bad days happen . That is something that is not in my control , but choosing to smoke or not is something "I" own the rights too.

 

At some point in my life I may be tempted to pick up a smoke ; it might be a bad day , a crisis ; something totally unexpected could trigger the addict in me tomorrow, but smoking will not happen. I have learned that smoking cannot be an option EVER and having that mindset is VITAL to keep my quit .

I lost an eight year quit many years ago . My foolish thinking caused that .

Just "one" led to many more years of smoking . Smoking so much that it almost put me in my grave . That mistake can NOT happen ever again .

 

"Not an option was the mind set I had to engrain in my thinking to quit . I had to live , eat and breathe those words five plus years ago .

"SMOKING IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN" ever again " Its off the table . 

 

Trust me , I didn't have a good outlook on my quit .. I wasn't positive ; I wasn't a happy quitter ; I didn't have a good attitude and I wasn't thankful to quit . I was just plain ANGRY that I had no choice but to quit . It was my last straw and I had hope the size of a pinhead that I was even worth quitting for, let alone be able to quit for a day .

 

So to the new people looking in , YOU CAN QUIT ... YOU CAN DO IT because even if you think you don't want to .... YOU KNOW YOUR WORTH IT enough to try !

Stay a while .

IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE !

 

I want to share with you how good it feels today almost 2000 days later because I know it can mean HOPE for you . I remember looking at my elders and watching them ... watching their numbers grow ; watching them giving back, what others gave them and I held on to my quit each and every day,  because I knew if they could do it ... IT WASN"T IMPOSSIBLE for me either. So is it impossible for you ? no !

 

So you see, I know you are not exempt from this freedom and there is hope and freedom for you too. If your just starting , I know its tough . If you don't feel GREAT thats ok .. If you feel crappy , thats OK too . It will get better and everyone here understands .

 

Let all those here even just one day ahead of you be your hope for tomorrow . When you are weak they are strong .

 

Hey, don't even worry about tomorrow just for the moment look after you today .

Thats it ... JUST FOR TODAY . DON'T LIGHT A CIGARETTE . No matter what ... KEEP GOING and you will come to reach your goals ;

One day at a time .

 

One hundred days ? You'll get there .

A year ? You will get there too.

Yes  and you will hit 500 days .. and 1000 days 

But the most exciting thing is this :

You will never be afraid of the words "NOT ONE PUFF EVER" again . You will JUST KEEP WANTING MORE !

 

So I would say good luck , but its not luck ; its hard work,  but its worth the work . Its doable ; and its worth it .

 

 

_Sherri L.

 

 

[Sazerac]

The first time I ever heard, 'smoking is not an option' 

came from this woman, Doreen.

A woman who continues to be a live and valuable contributor to this community, Every Day.

Here she is lately, 

 

"Never doubt.. If your here..its because you deep down want to quit...
My story..
My hubs and I smoked our way through 52 years together..but it came with a big price...
End stage emphysema.. It's took hubs roughly 15 years to reachy this..he now spends 16 hrs of every day on a oxygen machine..with full time care...
You would think ,I would have quit then..no...I didn't quit till 3 years ago...
My junkie brain was telling me..I'm OK..nothing wrong with my lungs..
This was true...but something else was happening to me very slowly..I was clotting the blood flow to my feet...my ankles were had black bruises appearing...
I spent the last week smoking with tears running ..I knew my time had run out...
After a trip to the docs..with a warning...if you quit NOW...you might be lucky.. And not have your feet amputated..I need help...
I found this family of quitters..they helped me every step of the way..they willed me on to succeed..which I did..and saved the feet too...
It's never too late..if you want to quit..we can get you there..you and us...a team...
Don't risk leaving it too late..the train is at your station ..right now...so you have been aboard once and jumped off...just get back on...
Do the best thing ,you can ever do for yourself....quit..the poison sticks...x"
 

[Abby]

Yes I remember her story, she shared on a blog I posted . She is one of the first people when I popped in to welcome me and I believe you welcomed me as well Sazerac . Thank You for posting this . Smoking really hurts .  

[Paul723]

That phrase can open up a world of possibilities. I would say, "smoking is not an option, what else would you like to do instead?" So rather than the tyranny of smoking, I exercised the freedom I suddenly had. It was a great way to shut down a craving, seek the good.

[babs609]

Wonderful post Sherri!! 

 

Thank you for sharing...and thank you for being here!

[Sirius]

Last night, working late.  Server goes catawampus along with the ISCI connectors displaying two hard drives in disk management that represent the same volume in Read only mode.

 

It's over 1.5 terrabytes of data that thirty engineers make use of.  Gotta be right by tomorrow.  12 hours to restore from backups so I'm presenting and initializing a new drive from the

Nimble SAN and setting up the restore job and the thought comes by that I could REALLY use a smoke.

 

As a former smoker and everyone who is trying to quit.  Yes, this will happen to you.  Maybe not IT, could be screaming kids, or traffic accident, or the public presentation.   None of these

are valid excuses.  

 

Smoking won't make the situation better but it will make you feel worse.