Be thankful, be grateful, be patient, be charitable, be kind, and don’t forget to smile, as it is infectious. God Bless America and Military!
I am going to take a path to this question that is usually not at the forefront of most people’s responses.
I had a Myocardial Infarction (aka heart attack) in the blizzard of 1/7/1996. That being said, it is about as close to a total failure as you want to have in life, I can assure you. I was 39 years old at the time, a 2-pack-a-day plus smoker, and I felt I was in pretty good shape that afternoon as I headed out the door to shovel snow. I might also add that, as previously noted, I tried to quit on numerous occasions over 5 years, and that particular day, on our first championship game in some time, the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Dallas Cowboys 30-11. So, you may be asking: What success did this lead to in my life?
As a result of that event, I developed a closer relationship with God. I was able to do something I hadn’t been able to do for years: quit smoking cold turkey and not miss it at all. My regret or only wish would be to have those years of smoking back, but perhaps I would be writing about some other topic today. So, despite it kicking over a can in my DNA, resulting in other hidden issues, I am healthier and more health-conscious today. My wife and children gained so much more from my quitting, and my only hope is that the years as a smoker didn’t impact their health with secondhand smoke.
Here I will share some of the positive things that I used as motivation in quitting, with the first and foremost being mentioned above, of my and my family’s health.
1. The cost of cigarettes. I decided to put the money spent weekly into a non-matching 401(k), and over about 14 years, it had almost $100k.
2. Not smelling like an ashtray or nicotine-stained fingers.
3. A car that smells clean with an unused ashtray.
4. When sitting with company, not constantly checking the ashtray and dumping it in, trying not to let them see how much you are smoking by counting the butts.
5. Not ducking outside on cold, rainy, sunny, or windy days to catch a smoke before and during events or dinners out. Also, feeling the urge to get one last smoke before heading into non-smoking events, movies, hospital visits, indoor venues, and the like.
Well, this is a partial list, as I am sure the smokers out there are agreeing with most, if not everything, stated above. You may also want to add a few of your own. Feel free, and please do, as it may help other smokers to reform their lives.
Point to Ponder: Anyone fighting an addiction, with cigarettes, among other things, has to realize that in order to quit, one must be willing to face and fight their own demons, as nobody can do it for you. My secret was in the opening two sentences of the second paragraph.
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