So happy, today is the day I haven’t smoked for 1 year. On 22 April 2014 23.30 I smoked my last cigarette. All the non-smokers who never smoked, probably think why is that so special. But out of my own experience I know by now that one time a smoker you will always stay a smoker. At least someone who is easily becoming a smoker again.
I was a non-smoker for ten years when I was 23, and at 33 I started smoking again. Stupid hey. But I just did, only because I was on a vacation in Kenya and Tanzania and I thought after 10 years it wouldn’t matter anymore. But it did.
After that time I quit for 7 months and of course during my pregnancy of Larsman I didn’t smoke.
But when he was born I started all over again. The only difference was that smoking a whole package a day was to much and I stayed for a while on 9 cigarettes per day.
And more changed, I had a son, and more and more I felt I had to quit smoking because if him. I want to see him growing up, and I want to stay healthy. Keep smoking wouldn’t help me with that.
And then at the end of 2013 I started to have some colds. That’s not so strange with a 10 months old baby who is going to childcare. But my colds didn’t go away. And for almost 12 weeks I was sick, coughing, sneezing etc.
I really thought that I wouldn’t get better anymore. In the meantime I tried an electronic smoker. But that felt like fake smoking, I didn’t like that at all.
Image from dokteronline.nl
On 22th of April 2014 I thought it was enough. I quit smoking. So in the evening, just before bedtime I smoked my last cigarette. I knew that I would have a hard time, specially because 2 nights later it would be Kingsnight and we always go out with friends. So I decided to use the e-smoker for a while. And it worked, I didn’t smoked on Kingsnight. And even better, the day after on Kingsday, I was also done with the e-smoker.
A couple of years ago I lost a lot of weight and I was always afraid that I would gain a lot of weight if I quit smoking. From the moment I quit smoking I tried to do a lot of moving, eating healthy food and being careful not to eat too much.
And it worked, I didn’t gain one kilo, I even lost one compared to the day I started!
I feel good for being a non-smoker, not just only for my health, but also because I’m not trapped in that smoking schedule anymore. A lot of smokers will recognize that, before you will do something like go to work, working in the house, doing groceries etc. first smoking a cigarette. Oh and another one, because maybe you can’t smoke for a while. Coming home, first in the garden (I always smoked outside) for a cigarette. That’s all done.
And no stinking hair and clothes anymore, hahaha and no complaining husband anymore asking me all the time when I quit smoking. The only thing is, when I quit, I didn’t tell anyone. Hahaha the always about my smoking habits complaining M. didn’t even notice for two days that I stopped smoking. Even when I asked him if he didn’t noticed anything, he couldn’t guess what…….
If you’re wondering why I now so exactly on what time I smoked my last cigarette, I use the app Kwit. Specially the first weeks this was a good app. It gives you tips an tricks and you can earn Levels for Health, Well being, Time not smoking, Money and Cigarettes not smoking. The only thing is it is only in Dutch I think. Edit: I checked the Itunes store and it’s also in other languages.
I’m sure, I will never smoke again, I learned my lesson and stay a non-smoker!
Facts:
Not-smoking : for 365 days
Saved Money after 1 year: 1.030 euro’s
Cigarettes not smoked (before 9/day): 3.285
With an average of 4,5 minutes per cigarette that’s 14.782 minutes that I used to spent on smoking in a year (or 246,38 hours or 10,3 days)
I also baked some cupcakes for my colleagues at Bailey Lights, because of me being a non-smoker for 1 year. You can find the post about it here.
Greetz Claudia