Today Is My 2nd 'No Smoking' Anniversary!

I can't believe it, after all those years of smoking, look where I am now. Today (January 18, 2009), is my 2nd year of being smoke-free! Do you think I can now call myself the winner in this battle? I think the answer is both Yes and No. Yes, because, quitting smoking is very hard to do, not a lot of people can even get to their 1st or 2nd week at least without lighting a cigarette. No, because it's still a continuing battle, although unlike before, the cravings is kinda milder now. I still do have cravings sometimes.

Right now my problem is second hand smoking. It's inevitable sometimes to come across smokers in the street or in a room full of people, and get to inhale their smoke. My lungs immediately recognize and react to it, so whenever that happens, I feel a little pain, like a vein twitching there inside my chest. I really don't like the smell of cigarette anymore, sometimes I feel like suffocated when I inhaled the smoke.

My goal right now is to be healthy, I mean totally healthy. I want to grow old like 70 or even older without getting sick, and when I say sick, I mean like having a disease that's hard to cure. No, I don't like that. Nobody does!

I hope all of you who are still in the habit, would really do your best to quit, and have a much healthier lifestyle. I said to myself before, that smoking is just a psychological thing, maybe it's true. Just try things that you think would work for you to stop smoking. As it says there in the picture, "There is no right way to quit smoking. Do whatever works for you".

My 1st 'No Smoking' Anniversary!

Happy "No Smoking" Anniversary to myself! January 18, 2009 marks my 1st year anniversary of not smoking. Wow, I never thought I would make it but here I am free from nicotine and I hope it's forever. I'll be looking forward to my 2nd year anniversary next year. How about you? Have you stopped smoking? You can do it! I know you can.

Update:My 2nd 'No Smoking' Anniversary!

Nobody Smokes here anymore!

Tomorrow Sept. 18 will be my 8th consecutive month without smoking! Many of my friends have been asking me how i did it and i really don't know what to tell them because i didn't use any techniques or followed any rules to stop my addiction. In my case, i have done everything just to stop smoking, like chewing gums to divert my cravings, hiding my ash tray so that it would not remind me of smoking and disassociating myself from people who smoke and even thought of hypnotism but it's too complicated for me and besides, where the hell will i find a doctor who knows hypnotism (here in Saudi Arabia) and if ever i found one, how much will it cost me? It was impractical and so unrealistic. But this time is different, I think it's the "Fear Factor".

Aside from the usual things that we hear about those diseases that we get from smoking, like cancer, heart problems etc., i have been a witness to the suffering of a family friend in the Philippines, we affectionately called him Mang Remy, he had Emphysema. It was when i visited him in his hospital room and it all came to me, the fear, there he told me that he was not feeling any pain or anything, but it was his breathing. He was having hard time breathing, he was gasping for air, almost like suffocating. And ever since that day, i was so sure that, what happened to Mang Remy will surely happen to me too and that was enough to scare the funny bones out of me. I have to stop smoking.

The first thing i did was to find out what is the best time for me to stop my addiction and in my case it's easier for me to stop smoking, a day after a heavy drinking and smoking, and so i did. Next i have to incorporate exercises and diet, without these i will surely get fat, I've learned about that in the Internet and Television. At least an hour a day of walking on a tread mill plus some weight lifting, the diet should be less fat and less carbohydrates and more protein.


And now i feel clean, healthy, unlike before, its like I'm gonna die without smoking, but look, I'm alive and free of it. To all smokers out there, there's still time. Take it from me, i was 18 years old when my addiction with cigarette started and now I'm 36 years old, yes it will take time, but if you persevere, you will win the fight. You can do it!