Smoking Was the Best Thing I Have Done

Smoking was the best thing I have done. 

Obviously not for the health implications but because of what quitting smoking taught me. 

I learned you have to practice quitting smoking. I mean really practice. Every time you try, you learn something new about yourself, your cravings, your triggers and how to be more successful the next time. You also learn how to forgive yourself and find the will to try again. 

You find healthy alternatives to replace the unhealthy habit. You begin to see how selfish and addictive smoking really is and how it impacts everyone you care about. 

Quitting smoking is the easiest and hardest accomplishment you will ever achieve. It is the easiest because the more often you do it, the more obvious it becomes why you need to quit. It is the hardest because the addiction is powerful and playful, constantly challenging every thing you know about yourself. 

The most helpful tool for me to quit for good was to remember the advice "a craving will always pass". Then I took it one craving at a time. And it is true, it always passes. This is also true for other cravings, not just nicotine.  Food and alcohol cravings have a way of reoccurring at a certain time of day or by associating with a certain behavior. If you can recognize what the thoughts or actions are that lead up to the craving, you have the power to get out in front of it.

For example, after trying numerous times to quit, I came to recognize that day three of no smoking was always the hardest for me. The first couple of days seemed like a breeze in comparison. By day three, my brain and my ego would pull out all the stops. It would bargain, it would cry, it would tantrum and even threaten me. Without constant distraction, it seemed impossible to beat. So knowing this information, I could finally outsmart myself and the last time I quit, I made sure that on day three, I was completely distracted. I spent the whole day on a road trip with my family, away from what was comfortable, surrounded by my greatest supports and we happily passed the time together.  When the cravings came, I knew they would pass and therefore they were never given the power they had previously on day three. 

This knowledge has become a metaphor for all I do, practice, practice, PRACTICE!  It is one of the most overlooked and undervalued actions we take, yet the most important. For it is this process where we learn our greatest truths.

May this inspire you to practice exercising your breath.

Kerri