Smoking can be an incredibly hard habit to kick. I smoked for 11+ years, starting late in high school and finally quitting when I was 29-years-old. According to my 1987 calendar-planner, I quit smoking at 9 P.M. on April 19, two days shy of my 29th 
birthday. I had been thinking about quitting for some months and even set a goal of quitting before I turned 30. I quit a year before my proposed deadline because cigarettes gave me horrible sore throats, headaches and made me feel bad. Keep in mind, I was very athletic, regularly working out at a gym and playing tennis despite the cigarettes. I wonder, to this day, if I could have quit 'cold turkey' without the health-related issues. I didn't consider patches, gum, or other stop-smoking products. I quit and felt immensely better - the reward that has kept me from re-starting cigarettes. I still have the last two packages of cigarettes that I bought in 1987. They serve as a reminder of a bad habit that I abandoned in favor of good health.
I intend to continue to 'Live Smoke-Free', as part of my I Resolve To . . . Challenge: 365 Resolutions For Health & Happiness. Why not join me? The objective is very simple: Do at least one thing each and every day to promote health and happiness for 'YOU'. Banish the 'Someday, Someday, Someday Syndrome'. Instead, make every day New Year's Day. Make every day count. The list of possibilities is infinite and can be tailored to your own dreams, resolutions and daily goals. If you need some help - a little nudge, a bit of inspiration, tips, advice, and news about the best ways to make resolutions a reality - please use IResolveTo.Com and the I Resolve To . . . Group at Gather as two of your resources. Resolve365 in 2009.
Both of my parents smoked, as did many of my friends. Almost everyone that I know has given up cigarettes. I don't like being around cigarette smoke because second-hand smoke makes me feel as bad as actually smoking a cigarette. That said, I don't judge. I have been there. I smoked throughout my television reporting years and always had a cigarette burning, while I wrote my afternoon stories. It was a security blanket of sorts for me, a stress reliever, at the same time it was really bad for my health. I am happy that I stopped when I did, though I understand the struggle that folks endure in attempting to quit.
I have one friend who is trying really hard to quit and made 'stopping the cigarette habit' one of her 2009 New Year resolutions. She has described her ups and downs, and I recently told her that I would do some research and compile a list of websites and articles that might be useful to her, and others, who are trying to 'kick the habit' in 2009. While I hope the information is beneficial, it should not be substituted for a physician's advice and guidance.
- NayoClinic.Com - Quit Smoking
- MayoClinic.Com - Stop Smoking Services
- American Lung Association - Quit Smoking
- SmokeFree.Gov - Learn How To Quit Smoking
- WebMD.Com - Smoking Cessation Health Center
- American Cancer Society - Guide To Quitting Smoking
- Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Quit Smoking
- USNews.Com - Stop Smoking - Secrets Of Successful Quitters
- Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - How To Quit Resources
Remember: I Resolve To . . . Achieve My New Year Resolutions, One Resolution, One Day At A Time For One Year. It's your choice. Do it today. Turn your resolution into reality in five simple, common sense steps: Dare To Dream, Decide, Define, Develop A Plan, and Do It Daily. Make your resolution a permanent Lifetime Resolution, something that's with you for good! Above all, Be A Resolutionista, someone who makes resolutions, keeps resolutions, and enjoys the journey! Let's Go For It!
Kim Simpson, a former journalist, provides communications, fundraising services and strategic planning, for Members of Congress, non-profit organizations, corporations, and associations in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. A self-employed entrepreneur, with more than 30 years of experience, she launched IResolveTo.Com in 2005 in an effort to help others to achieve their New Year Resolutions, Dreams and Goals. Her motto is: I Resolve To . . . Achieve My New Year Resolutions, One Resolution, One Day At A Time For One Year.TM Let's 'Go For It'.
Get your daily dose of inspiration at: http://www.iresolveto.com - As added incentive, why not make and keep your New Year Resolution by wearing it? Drop by: http://www.cafepress.com/iresolveto
This article is Copyright © Kim M. Simpson, I Resolve To, Inc. * All Rights Reserved.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 12
Yeah.
Maybe they are making ciggies harder to quit now, wouldn't put it past them!
I quit in 1989, after 25 years of smoking at least 2 packs a day, and I smoked some even as far back as Jr High School!
i was working on a TV show at Universal and smoked my last one after lunch, there were no machines on the lot at that time and so I went back to work and the scene was a 1950s cafe, with a Lucky strike as a prop, which i had to keep puffing on and the smoke machines filling up the room, by the time it was time to wrap we were coated in smoke inside and out!
I drove to feed my horse and started up the hill when I remembered I had no cigarettes. I was too tired at mid nite so went home. I awoke with a cold and sore throat and never went out to buy ciggies---again. Sept. 1989 till now and no desire to smoke at all. My ex husband was a smoker and I hate the smell it left on him all the time, even though he was relegated to the garage to smoke!
I cannot tolerate those who are against smoking but will let the cries of the homeless in their city go unheard. Or ignore battered women and children. That requires work. Jumping into the "club" of those who are so vile in their contempt for smokers makes them feel powerful. And they refuse to see that this may well be stepping stone to the loss of a personal right, and a legal purchase that they may someday be forced to give up..
I am all for a supportive and understanding human being, who realizes what giving up smoking really is for some of us..I will be the first to admit that a cigarette has been there for me many times when there was nothing else..It is hard to leave it. I cannot understand these people at all. In any other situation were illness is caused by an object or a medicine, and it is proven to the extent that society wants it banished, (although I will never ever ask a member of the armed forces to NOT smoke for MY comfort) Cannot see how expensive the aids to quit are. There are taxpayer clinics for dope addicts. The Salvation Army for alcholics. But smokers? Take our tax money AND the award monies and give it out to anyone but the ill smoker, or the one who cannot afford the cost of aids to quit.
I went to a new Lung Doctor yesterday and he reminded me of you. He did not beat me up. He LISTENED to me. He did however give me a script for Chantrix. It is $144.00. It is not covered by insurance. If it really works, if they really cared, it should be as we are told, that OUR habit costs so much..In my family alone, all have died with cancer, and the most of them NEVER smoked. When the insurance peoplde cover the costs, and they should, as I would think they would save millions in the long run, I will listen to these "perfect people" who do no wrong, Like overeat and know it. Who drink too much. Who do not take their medicine. ANd on and on..I did not mean to rant and I am not excusing smoking, but I am angry that a fellow human and one who is also imperfect in some way, getting in my face about a legal purchase I can choose to buy.. I work on quitting everyday. I have good and bad days. "I" do not like me when I smoke. I am learning things as I go. It is the hardest thing I have tried to do in a long time..Because it has always been a part of my life, like a bad husband.
But you my dear, inspire and motivate me. Your gentle wise words are not in the "attack mode". For right now, you are about the only one I listen too, read, and try to think of all day long when I can, (I am in the last throes of moving and it is a job with everyone arguing about what they can do, how little or how much of my belongings I get to take, while they live in comfort) and I come back when I can and re-read you..I know you are going to be the one steady force for me..I cannot thank you enough for that. For not ever telling me I am wrong. That I have a habit started long ago, when nothing was known about it, that I now know, like alcohol is bad for me..I cannot thank you enough for noticing other things about me that are good. I would never abandone a human being, especially one whose taxes on the item purchased, in this case cigarettes has kept their taxes down, and built or improved many places in many states..I paid for that with my health. Can I have that money, blood money back? NO! Can I have the money from the tobacco industry, it is me who is hurt, NO. They say I had choice. True, But there was a time when we did not know of the harm. And we all know the addictive qualities..But there is no kindness for the smoker..Maybe I will pursue getting some of that money back, and ask many to join me..I have had enough getting beat up..My life is tough right now, and the leading experts say to not HURT yourself or set yourself up for failure when in really bad situations, like this move which is turning into a ridiculous drama..
In the meantime, I will seek out human beings like yourself and this new doctor. People, if needed, and they are, to quit for. Who care about ME. Who see ME, and not just the cigarette..I thank you, and I am so glad you and your ideas are here..You are the best and that is that..Your friend, Ellen B
I shall keep you posted, expect me to go down for awhile as I re-connect in the new place..But I will be back..