The Day I Quit Smoking

Well I used to smoke. Yes I said I used to smoke. Last Wednesday November 23rd I quit smoking. Well it was actually late last Tuesday night that I quit, but who is counting right. It has been one whole week ago today since I have had a cigarette. And I feel GREAT. Scratch that, I feel FUCKING GREAT!!!!!!!!!

So since I am in such an awesome mood over this achievement I have decided to tell you the story of one of the greatest days in my life.

I started my ten day break from work on Friday November 17th and I had long ago decided that sometime during my ten days off that I needed to quit smoking. I told all of my family and friends to ignore the Asshole that I was sure to become while trying give up smoking.

So on Tuesday night November 22nd after going to church for the annual Thanksgiving feast, I smoked my last cigarette and went to bed around 2-3am. Prior to going to bed I prayed for some strength (to quit and help me), and then I passed out.

I woke up Wednesday morning to sunshine coming through my window. I got up, took a shower, ate some breakfast, and watched a little tv. I did not have an urge to smoke. Not one urge. Even when I went outside for the first time, I had no urge.

After some time I had to leave the house to run to my bank to get a new debit card as my kids had lost my card somewhere in my house. I drove to the bank and had no problems at all. When I got to the bank I noticed this old man standing outside the bank smoking and I just walked right past him. I even thought that the smell was nasty. So after getting my new card, I drove home from the bank and had no urge to smoke. I kept wondering when I was going to break down and want to smoke.

While I was on the way home I noticed how beautiful it truly was outside. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was about 65 degrees outside, we have not had a day like this in a long time here. On my ride home I suddenly decided that I wanted to spend the whole day outside.

When I got home from the bank, I got the entire box of car washing supplies I needed from the shed and I completely washed my car. I took a good two to three hours to completely wash and clean both the inside and outside of my car just to make sure I got the smoke smell out of the car. And after all of that time I did not have an urge to have a smoke. And I was still wondering when I would have the urge to smoke, the cold sweats, and the headaches from the lack of smoking but they never came.

After washing the car I ate a little snack and lounged around outside just enjoying the sunshine. And I did not have an urge. I kept waiting to have an urge to smoke, but said urge never came.

As it started to get dark outside, for some strange reason I shall never know we lost our electricity at home. So I decided to go for a walk with my daughter. We walked together for two miles just talking about life and everything under the sun. She even said as a reward for giving up smoking that I should eat my favorite food that night. So I ordered pizza when we got home from our walk. And I still did not have an urge to smoke.

When we were done with my walk, I noticed how beautiful the sunset was this night. There were tons of different shades of pink, light orange, red, and yellow in the sky. It was just beyond description and had I had my camera nearby I would have taken a picture of it. This was the type of sunset that inspire people.

My daughter and I then went to pick up the pizza from Pizza Hut (they had the best deal that day). When we got there my pizza was not ready yet so we had to sit down inside and wait. Now normally before last week this would have been when I would have gone outside to smoke, but that night I did not even have the urge to. I just sat inside and talked to my daughter while patiently waiting for my dinner. My good mood must have been very apparent because I even got hit on by a young lady while I was sitting there waiting with my daughter. Although I don’t think it was my awesome aura so much as it was she has probably never seen a man interact with his daughter the way I was doing.

My daughter and I went home and ate what must have been the best pizza I have ever had in my life. It tasted beyond wonderful. And after eating I didn’t have a craving to smoke.

Yes I went through this entire perfect day with no cravings at all. I enjoyed the weather outside, I ate, I did things which would normally would have meant I would have been smoking while doing. And yet I didn’t smoke and I didn’t have an urge or craving to even touch a cigarette.

I had tried to quit smoking two previous times one of which was with medication and one was not and both of these attempts were unsuccessful. I had a lot of problems quitting smoking those two times.

Now this might sound crazy to some of you, but hear me out. I was a pack a day smoker for 15 years and I quit COLD TURKEY. No patches, no self help books, no buddy system, no medication, no nothing. The only thing I did was pray about it. And I am pretty sure that I had a few other people (like Miley and my kids) who prayed for me as well.

And this time when I quit smoking, it felt like it was different. It felt to me like it was meant to be that I was quitting cold turkey with no medical help. I felt like I had someone there with me watching over me and helping me. I can’t really explain it to you, but it just felt RIGHT to me. And I was not alone in this struggle.

Now some of you may believe in a higher power and some of you may not. Regardless of your beliefs, I felt like I was being helped on that day by a higher power. I mean how else do you explain quitting cold turkey? Do you know the odds of a cold turkey quitter succeeding (it is like 95% against you), it does not end well most of the time. Although in my case, I was not alone and there was no struggle to this. And the difference this time I quit is that I prayed for it. And it happened.

This was beyond a perfect day for me. So many things went right on this day. And I will have you know that I have had ZERO cigarettes since last Wednesday. And I have not even had the urge to smoke. Sure there were a couple of times in the last week that I was stressed out and really wanted a smoke, but I did not have one.