Day 18
“I, alone can grant myself the “freedom from want.”
A Day at a Time
For most smokers, quitting takes a good deal of energy, strength, and just plain hard work, especially in the first weeks. For awhile, not smoking has to be your primary daily goal. The thing to remember here to help you through this effort is that the hard work does end. Before long, what started as a war winds down to a few little battles once in awhile. The urge stops and, for the most part, smoking can become part of the past, if you let it.
If you’ve been off for short times in the past and have returned to smoking, it is possible that you thought that kicking the habit would be easier. You might also have had a longer period of success at quitting under your belt, but still went back to smoking after months or even years. Maybe it’s been very hard to begin the effort to quit this time. It will help to remember that it’s been only one cigarette that made the difference. If you put your mind to it, you can do this.
This decision is very important to your long-term success. At some point after smokers quit, the people who make it for good often report a real change in the way they think about smoking. Somehow, all the work and difficulties become less important. What becomes clear is that choosing not to smoke isn’t so hard and that all that stands between them and their success is a decision. The decision is to never smoke that next cigarette again -no matter what. Once such a decision is made, it can be a great relief. It’s like lifting a big load from your back, and knowing that it is in your power to never smoke again.