Another day, Another journey

Quitting cigarettes is by far one of the hardest things I’ve ever tried to do. When I relapsed in times past, I’d blame it on being with my friends, but now it’s just the euphoria of the smoke that seduces me. I’m starting to think that’s what it’s always been; not just the nicotine or to fit in but I can honestly say I love the way smoke looks and feels in my mouth. Remind you that I don’t include taste because I find that the repulsive part, which makes me spit. Spitting is something I do every time I smoke and I absolutely hate it. Not the fact that it’s not lady like because personally I don’t care about gender roles. I just find it gross. If you knew how much I spit, you wouldn’t want to be around me.

I’m still struggling, but I have yet to say the journey is over. Smoking is a hard habit to knock, I must say, yet with the wonderful influence of my teacher I know my last cigarette is coming near. It’s been a while since I wrote and I’m sorry! I know you’re anxious to hear about what other trials I’ve faced. Along with what I’ve learned about myself. Recently I’ve had a change in my group of friends, which I find has helped reduce the number of cigarettes I smoke.

My friends as I told you before have had a huge impact on my addiction to cigs. Without planning it, I’ve found that I’ve distanced myself from a few and I’ve came to realize that it has benefited me. I’ve noticed a fair share of my money is now being saved since I’m not around one of the main smokers in my social group. It’s been about two days and my urge has lessened. I still drive past my smoke shop and the past goes through my mind, but then I think about how not smoking benefits me financially and health wise.

I’ve just gotten Quit-It, a new app I found in the App Store for iPhones. What does it do? It tracks just how much time it has been since my last cigarette and what that means for my health and my wallet. Did you know your lungs begin to heal as soon as you stop smoking? From the looks of the app, I’ve saved over $5 since I got it. I know it’s not much, but an extra $5 in my pocket for whatever I might need is always a benefit in my eyes. When quitting cigarettes or trying to lose weight, some people share their progress on social media and that actually increases their success rates. I guess that is what I am doing here by publishing on The Dial. The app is free, so I did not do major research to find which is the best, but you can find out more by reading “The Best Quit Smoking iPhone and Android Apps of the Year” on line http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/top-iphone-android-apps-quit-smoking.

Now I have also noticed that at a stop light is when I get the most anxious. It’s like that 45 second wait is just enough time to spark a 10 minute loosie in order to “pass the time”. In the past I never considered that I might just wait through this few seconds (or sometimes minutes if you’re in downtown New Haven traffic ). JOKING of course. My wonderful teacher Mrs. Birmingham has given me colorful modeling bees wax that I’ve started playing with during the times I have to wait and resist temptation. This has helped distract me from cigarettes with something creative and fun. Mrs. Birmingham once told me that when her mother was a smoker, she learned that if she could do something else for five minutes any time she felt the urge, the craving would pass and that would be another cigarette she didn’t smoke. Now whenever I feel the urge, I find a quick five minute activity to take me to the time I’ll no longer feel the need to smoke.

I hope this article is becoming an inspiration for you to quit because I know that I’m on my way each article I write. Thanks for the support!

-Hadiya Samuel