Life As a Non-Smoker

Gawd, smoking is one of those guilty pleasures. That you should be able to do without hurting yourself, hurting others, offending others, or leaving the smell everywhere.

Giving it up is one of the harder things I've done in my life. I tried many times and relapsed. But as a runner, RELAPSE IS NOT AN OPTION. Yes, I must be a runner - if I succeed at running, I will succeed in my journey as a non-smoker. Maybe it's just mental, but I'm making a correlation between the two. A defense mechanism perhaps?

My brother Jeff was in town last month. I had one. And quite frankly, 1 since nearly two months ago isn't half bad.

At this point I'm not really worried about relapse. The pride of succeeding is by far better than any pleasure that rolled up tobacco could ever give me. I could be mad at myself for ever starting smoking, but I think I'll focus on the pride of being a recovered smoker instead.

There was one article that someone passed along to me that has been helpful on tough days:
http://whyquit.com/whyquit/joelcigfriend.html
Absolutely wonderful "story" and so true.

And now, yes, I can smell a smoker a mile away. And they reek - not in a good way.

Many people told me they never smelled the smoke on me like other people, but I have to think they were just being nice. There's no way I didn't reek.

Running is better for me. Maybe my knees will give out. But at least it doesn't cause knee cancer, hehe. :-)

Shyam and I promised ourselves we'd set aside $25/each for every week without smoking, which is approximately $200 a month. We haven't actually put any money in a separate account, but I did the math and after a year, this would give us $2400 to take a nice trip somewhere. Yay :-) A healthier and better traveled couple. Life is sounding good.