Day 29

Well, I made it another day.

Tomorrow will be a HUGE milestone in my life, and I WILL see it.

Tomorrow will be one month without smoking.

That is huge for anyone. 30 days is a long time, and the longer I go, the easier it gets.

Most of the time now I’m not even contemplating the thought of smoking. I’m way past the hump of easily going back on a whim.

However, I have caught a cold, so work today was miserable. It really has nothing to do with nicotine withdrawal, as I got sick as soon as the weather changed from really hot to cool.

Sometimes the weather does that to you.

As soon as the climate changes, something snaps in your body and you get sick. It’s happened to me numerous times.

There is one topic I want to talk about, though, as long as I’m on the subject of being sick.

When I was a smoker, especially during the last 6 years or so of my addiction, whenever I got sick, either the cold or flu, my sickness would ALWAYS start in my lungs.

That’s how I knew it was coming, because I would start feeling pressure in my lungs.

It used to be really bad, too.

I thought it was some form as asthma, but it was just the sickness moving throughout my body.

But my lungs were affected so much. I was barrel chested, and I literally couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t lie down, I couldn’t get comfortable, and there was no way I was going to get a good night’s sleep. I coughed too much, and it drained every ounce of energy I had.

Guess what?

I haven’t felt a single thing in my lungs yet.

Why is that? It’s because I haven’t been smoking.

I’m still miserable. I can’t breathe through my nose at all, and I sneeze and my eyes water. I just don’t have any symptoms, like wheezing or coughing.

That’s great news in my world.

When you can’t breathe period, then life is horrible. I can deal with not being able to breathe through my nose.

But wheezing in my chest and barely getting a breath out of my lungs is no fun at all.

This is why it’s imperative to quit smoking. Don’t be stupid and end up like I was for many, many years.

I did, and every time I got sick, I paid the price of smoking.

I was literally on my deathbed for days at a time.

Am I like that now? Absolutely not!

Sure work was horrible, and my nose was dripping every 5 seconds, but I could still breathe. I could still work.

I didn’t have to rush myself to an emergency room. I didn’t have to run upstairs to puff on my asthma inhaler.

In reality, all I needed was a Kleenex. That I can live with!

So, despite my illness, did I feel any nicotine withdrawal? Nope. Am I completely over it? Probably not, but I know I’m over the worst part of it for sure.

The first week really sucks.

Then after that you start to get a handle on things and your mind is changing so much that you begin to develop new goals and ideas. All that stuff leads to more motivation.

But slipping up is very easy at that time.

Do I expect more times in my life that will be challenging to not smoke during? Of course! I still haven’t been to a wedding, or to a concert, or any big event like that, and those will be tough times indeed.

But I am ready to face them! I am ready to kick my addiction to the curb forever!

Tomorrow is one month and after that, I’m going to start trying to forget which day I’m on, because once I forget, I’ll have truly quit smoking.