It’s funny, as a child I was very anti-smoking.  I knew it was bad for your health and it upset me very much each time I "caught" one of my parents smoking.  When I began smoking at the age of 16, it wasn't so much that I wanted to smoke, I was stubbornly "acting out" as many teenagers do and used the excuse "well, if my parents can do it, so can I!”  I was never a very heavy smoker, maybe a half a pack a day. It was something to do, some way for a very un-cool "chick" to be cool, or so I thought. When I first thought of quitting, it was more at the urging of my husband as opposed to something that I wanted to do for myself, for my health.  So, I quit.  Cold turkey.  Until the next time I got mad at him, which was pretty often.  Then, I showed him, I smoked!  There I went, back and forth, smoking and not-smoking and smoking again for 5 years before I finally decided to quit for myself.  For MY health.

 When I did finally decide to quit for good, I did so as before, cold turkey.  You know, for someone who really didn’t want to start smoking in the first place, it was still very difficult to quit.  I felt the urgings to light up, especially after a good meal, for several years.  But I always knew that I would deeply regret (more like never forgive myself) if I started smoking again.  Finally, as time went by, the urgings diminished, and now I can say that I am completely free of this disgusting habit.  But, oh…how I know, it is a b…tch to quit!  Today there are so many resources available to educate us and help us stay on the right track.  I have to think that it would have been much easier for me had I had these resources available to me when I was struggling to become smoke-free.