Josie as always thank you for your wonderful support!! :) Shevie I always find your rambling rather insightful and inspiring, which isn't really rambling at all now is it? :) "To thy own self be true." yeah that...umm...like I said, I failed school :p LOL *spell check Eve, spell check!!* [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 4/8/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 102 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 822 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $612 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 8 [B]Hrs:[/B] 15 [B]Mins:[/B] 33 [B]Seconds:[/B] 17

Would you have chosen it to be different? Imagine you have a genie that will grant your re-birth along the way if you decide you have really messed up your life. And one day, you do exactly that. You say, "No, I don't like the way my life is, I'm going back, I want to do it over again and do it right this time." And then your genie comes along and grants your wish and poof! You're a babe again. What do you think you would do this time? Do you think you would remember, somehow, not to make those mistakes again? Perhaps, if you were aware of it enough in that lifetime to remember it through your re-birth, the possibility exists that you would retain some substantial form of that memory in the next lifetime. But there is no genie in this lifetime, so where do we apply practical application to a messed up life? Truth #2 The Maze of Choices As we enter the maze, we don't really know what is ahead of us. We only know how exciting it is to be at the very beginning of it all. We know there will be twists and turns, blind corners, lots of surprises in turning those corners, and lots of learning experiences based upon, yes, the choices you make as you go through that maze. In my maze, I lied to myself. I feel most people who have been addicted to some type of substance in their lives will experience this maze of lies. That is the truth. Once in the maze, you've already told yourself the first lie. That is how you were able to enter the maze to begin with, by that very first lie. Then, as you progressed along that maze, the second lie you told yourself was not as hard to say as the first lie. By the third, fourth and fifth lies you've told yourself, you are starting to get the hang of this 'lying' thing and you keep it going. The lies build up. The maze gets deeper. There are alot of times you are stuck in one corner faced with one BIG lie you have to tell yourself in order to turn that corner. The truth in this maze is that you always have the choice to lie or tell the truth, even though you have long forgotten about choices at this point. You are so far into the maze you feel you no longer have a choice. It is to lie or to die. Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. Even the only choice we believe we have in that moment is yet one of the bigge

A very thought provoking post, Eve. I hope you don�t mind if I ramble on it a bit. Some mazes we enter intentionally. A couple of examples of this could be illegal drug use and cheating on your partner. Some we enter totally oblivious to their presence until we are so deep into them we can�t find any way out. For many of us, this is how we entered the maze of tobacco addiction. What you say about lies becoming easier as you tell them also applies to slipping, I think. Giving in to the first puff is the hardest, no matter how hard it actually is. Subsequent puffs are increasingly easier until you�re back to full-time smoking. Do not allow yourself to fall for that first lie. [i]�To thy own self be true.�[/i] Regardless of how you are to others, you [u]must[/u] be true to yourself in order to realize that your life has meaning. I think a person will find, though, that in being true to one�s self, they also become true to others. Part of attaining a successful quit is the acknowledgement to one�s self of the existence of the addiction and one�s weakness to it. The acknowledgement of the weakness gives the strength to overcome it. Mazes, by definition, are filled with blockades, dead ends, false trails, confusion, and disorientation. That sounds like some quitters I know. A true quit, as I view it from the frame of reference of your post, cannot be a maze. Oh, sure, there will be some hills and a few trees and shrubs to go around. But for the most part, the path is clear and unobstructed. Those of you still in your maze, keep searching. Don�t despair, don�t give up. Every maze has an entrance, and every maze has an exit. Listen for the voices and footsteps of those nearer the exit. Let them guide you. Thanks, Eve. :) Shevie [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/23/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 422 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 8,455 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1603.6 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 78 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 34 [B]Seconds:[/B] 20

EVE, This is a wonderful example of the day to day challenges we face when quitting. It is never easy and we are always here to help :) You have all made the right choice no matter how long it took to get you here! Keep Strong, Josie _____________________ The SSC Support Team.