How Stopping Smoking Changed My Resolve.
It will stimulate your attitude toward your goals.
Fifty years ago when my son was born. I knew it was time to stop my two pack a day habit. I was a smoker from the time I was a teenager. I felt I had to be “In” as my acquaintances were smokers.
Later, in the Marines, they would throw small packs of cigs at us. We eagerly grabbed them and smoked them out. It worked as the young men became indoctrinated into this habit. If you look at the old photographs of World War Two and you will see cigarettes hanging out of mouths. Everybody smoked. It was as necessary as breathing.
We could buy them for a nickel a pack at ship stores or Post Exchanges.
In civilian life, as a young father, expenses were tight, and the price of cigarettes was going up. I had to concentrate on the welfare of my family. Smoking was an expense that I could eliminate.
I looked at the commercials offering various aids to stop smoking. Everything from pills to hypnosis to aid you in your quest. These are companies making a profit out of your addiction. I decided I could do it on my own and save money.
It was the most difficult thing to do in my life.
For years, after dinner, I would sit with my wife and drink coffee and puff on a cigarette. My wife joined me in this time of relaxation.
First, I knew I had to change this comfortable habit. I took a walk after dinner and left my wife at the table with the cigarettes.
During my sleep, I would dream I was smoking- taking deep breaths of seductive smoke. Then, startled, I was awake! I had broken my Resolve until I realized it was just a dream.
It took me a full year to not want a cigarette every moment.
Other men would shake a cigarette out their pack and offer me one. I would reach for it before stopping and thanking them, explaining that I was no longer a smoker.
The year it took me from smoker to non-smoker taught me a life lesson.
With determination, you can accomplish any goal you wish to achieve.
I have used this attitude many times during the last fifty years. Every tough decision I make today, I know I can accomplish it. I have determination. It is part of my being.
