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General : Staying quit View All Messages
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 Message 4 of 14 in Discussion 
From: Joel  in response to Message 1Sent: 5/31/2006 2:41 PM
I don't know if I have another quit in me.

Its funny, you will hear many people say and feel sentiments like this the first few weeks into a quit. But over time many lose this feeling and start to think that quitting was no big deal. If ever asked how it was to quit they may even say that it was no big deal and begin to think that if they were ever to go back, they would just quit again. This is a form of complacency and complacency has killed many a quits.

An ex-smoker can get to the point that he or she looks back at smoking as being vile, disgusting, expensive, stupid, crazy, and many other derogatory terms. He or she may think that with what he or she knows and understands now that there is absolutely no way he or she could return to such an unwanted lifestyle. The ex-smoker then knows he or she is secure forever from relapsing--and then the final piece of the illogical puzzle falls into place--that if he or she hates smoking so much, and there is no way he or she will return to smoking--well then a puff here and there can't be a big deal because he or she is so resolute to remain smoke free. That is where the story often tragically ends.

For anyone who ever feels that they are not sure that they have another quit in them, they should be aware that they may be absolutely correct, they don't know that they have another quit in them. But for every member of this group today we know for a fact that you have this one going right now and I suspect you are all pretty sure you can make this one last through the rest of the day. This is the one you want to cultivate now for it is likely the one that has the best chance to work and it is definitely the one that has the best chance of avoiding the potentially lethal consequences of smoking.

For if this quit didn't take but maybe a few months from now or a few years from now the next one would, you still don't know that one of the cigarettes you smoked in that intervening time period didn't start up some deadly irreversible process. This factor again is another reason that you should do everything in your power to make this quit stick. To make this quit the quit that sticks and saves your health and your life always remember to never take another puff!

Joel