5 years today :)
5 years ago today I started out on an exciting journey, one which I’d
been planning for several weeks. When I started making those plans,
I’d been searching online to get some ideas together ideas to make
the journey more successful and more comfortable. I needed to find
something different, because each time I’d been on this road in the
past it’d been very bumpy and uncomfortable so much so that I’d
given up after a short distance and gone back home to what was
familiar, even though I disliked it.
5 years ago today I was anxious to make this final journey but this
time it was going to be different. I’d met someone online who’d got
me thinking about what I was setting out to achieve, someone who
shared his knowledge and experience, and coached and encouraged me
along the way.
I’m talking, of course, about setting out on my journey to quit
smoking, once and for all 
Just before Christmas 2000, I’d been
searching for `the’ answer on how to quit smoking and found myself in
a quit smoking chatroom, and met our Steve. Having spent a few weeks
reading on various quit smoking websites and wondering how sucking on
a straw, drinking copious amounts of water, and hanging on tight was
going to help me quit, it was so amazing to meet someone who
approached quitting from such a different and logical perspective. I
learned how to recognise what those `urges’ to smoke really were
about, and how to respond to life in much more appropriate ways ones
which didn’t involve inhaling on a cigarette.
Along the way and what a ride it was I realised I was learning so
much about myself and how I responded to life. It went way beyond
quitting smoking and the tools I gained through learning how to quit
cognitively have helped me approach and deal with life so very
differently. In the past 5 years I’ve dealt with major issues
including divorce and major surgery, all without that `need’ to smoke.
It’s quite simply become instinctive now to identify what my body
really needs and to put whatever’s needed in place. Warren looks
after those needs now without being asked 5 years ago today I set out on my quit journey with the support of my
quitcoach Steve, and I remember being in awe of the fact that he had
been quit for close on 5 years. I remember saying to him that I’d
love to be in his shoes, with that amount of time comfortably quit
under my belt. Who’d have believed it certainly not me, back in
2001. And yet here I am and it feels wonderful Thank you Steve, for taking that time to help me reach the place I’m
at today and for being such a good friend to me.
Pam
5 years (and a few hours) cognitively quit