I just had a QuitNet Anniversary email pop up!
It has been exactly one year since I quit forever!
I'm so proud of me.
I started quitting in 2006...usually at the prompting of someone else...and even though I would quit with the best intentions, subconsciously I knew it wasn't forever.
Last spring I went to my doctor to start a course of anti-depressants for the first time, I finally admitted I couldn't pull myself up and out of it on my own this time. It was the best thing I could have done for myself. It took awhile to find the right medication but when I did so much fell in to place, I had the energy and the desire to get up and out and do things. And I had the personal, internal motivation to start making more changes in my life. I decided to start the C25k running program and I decided to start quitting -for good, for me. The two activities went nicely together because as it happens: I can't smoke AND run. After nearly 2-decades of smoking it was physically impossible for me to carry on smoking and have the lung capacity needed to run for more than a minute. Coincidentally the medication I ended up taking for depression, Welbutrin, has also had clinical success helping with smoking cessation.
It was a perfect storm, in a great way.
And I am so happy for having quit.
And I know this time it is forever.