Best Birthday Gift Ever: Quitting Smoking

Today is my 32nd birthday and I've given myself a pretty great gift.

That gift is that I quit smoking a month and a half ago!!

[caption id="attachment_917" align="alignleft" width="315" caption="Photo by D Sharon Pruitt - Creative Commons License "][/caption]

On Monday July 28th, 2014, after a long day at work, I threw the remainder of my pack away and put on a patch. I've had a couple minor lapses early on. However, I have only made it this far 3 other times and this is by far been the easiest so far. 
 

I've survived some major triggers already:

• Camping - Sitting around a campfire smoking is 
• Tubing - Trying to keep cigarettes/lighters dry is half the fun
• Painting in the Garage - This is a major Trigger, especially with Jorilla
• The Greyhound to Ames - Smoke Breaks are the best times to meet interesting characters and share stories
• Work Trip to Ames - No one really smokes on my team, but I get a lot of anxiety being cooped up in the office (I normally work from home)
• This trial I had to appear as a witness for - I'll talk about that some other time

This Fall marks 10 years of me smoking. I blame it on getting serious about getting my Art Minor in college and having 5 hour art classes with numerous breaks where everyone in the class smoked. Even one of my teachers started smoking again after years of quitting just to hangout. Pretty much as soon as I started, I wanted to quit, but was addicted, hard.

I've tried all the tricks over the years - patches, gum, Zyban and I think I just didn't want to quit. In the past few years, it's been a crutch and fewer and fewer people around me have been smoking. More and more I just wanted to quit.

This time around, my formula has been:

• Patches - been better about putting them on first thing in the morning than previous tries
• No other life changes - I usually try to start some workout regime or eating healthier, etc... which usually creates stressors
• Subconscious will - I've had three neighbors die this summer of either cancer or heart disease and I think it has really affected me deep down about being healthier
• Biking more - I've logged the most hours on my bike this summer since I was in 9th grade. I've done some fairly long rides - the lakes a few times (8 miles round trip) and the state fair (10 miles round trip). It has been very enjoyable and nothing sucks more than weezing while biking up a hill.

I'm confident this will stick. If you see me smoking, punch me in the face and remind me.

So there you go - my birthday gift to myself. Actually, with the money I'm saving from not buying a pack of smokes every day ($405  @ $9 now in MN), I bought a standing desk. This will work towards my next goal of getting back in shape. Hopefully, next birthday, I'll be writing about that goal.