It was very interesting to read Blue Clouds thread about how it was when she first started smoking.
I thought it would be interesting to hear how we all got sucked into sucking in those nasty poisons & this nasty addiction.
I was born in 1963 :) I always hated cig's. I remember taking people's cig's away from them or taking them out of their mouth and breaking them, or hiding them.
My Grandmother is in heaven now but I remember how she always talked about quitting and how she struggled. She had 2 small chandaliers in her house and I cleaned all the yellow nicatine off one of them and told her that I'd clean the other one when she quit smoking. But that never happened. After she passed away I had a dream that I saw her walking down a sidewalk and she looked young & fresh & happy & I knew she didn't smoke. She looked so pretty. They say when you go to heaven that you return to a young age when you were happy. I wonder if that was really a dream that I had?
When I was in Saudi in "Desert Storm" I started smoking beedies. Nobody knew what was in them but they weren't cig's. Then when I got back to Germany I started buying cig's. I remember someone telling me that I should just stop right then and that I didn't even look like a smoker. But I was already hooked :( Later I found out that the beedies were straight nicatine rolled up in a dried out banana leaf.
So at age 28 I started smoking. So 16yrs minus about 2yrs of the quit days I've had, I've smoke approx. 14 yrs of my life. So if it's true what they say about each cig taking 7 min's off your life, then I've lost a great deal of my time here on earth. Wow, if I smoked a pack a day for 14 yrs that means that 20 cig's X 7 = 140 min's or 2.33hrs & a day, or 16.33hrs a week or 65.33hrs a month or 784hrs a yr or 10,976hrs in 14yrs. I don't even want to know how many days that is that I let nicotine take off my life. :( That's terrible! How sad is that?
When I got out of the army & back to the states, my friend couldn't believe that me of all people had started smoking b/c they knew how much I hated it. I'd always said I would never smoke. Now I never say that I'll never do anything b/c the more I learn the more I realize I don't know.
Practice quits add on days of our lives also, which is a good thing. Anytime without smoking is a good thing!!!!!!!!!
I have over a month quit now and am very happy to be smoke-fee. This quit has been super tough for me but it's worth it to be free of this addiction even if only for today :) One day at a time :)
Just breathe.........Ahhhhhhhhh
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]7/9/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 34
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 680
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $163.20
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 41 [B]Seconds:[/B] 13
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Quit Meter
$26,706.00
Amount Saved
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Quit Meter
Days: 584
Hours: 8
Minutes: 44
Seconds: 18
Life Gained
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Quit Meter
4451
Smoke Free Days
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Quit Meter
89,020
Cigarettes Not Smoked
