Post by judyb on Sept 25, 2005 8:43:42 GMT -5
I'd like to try to put a few things in perspective.
Very often we tend to think in terms of quantity (rather than quality) to validate our achievements. We
recognize the twenty year employee, the long-time teacher, the one year, two year, ten year
anniversaries, etc. Each of these milestones is very important and deserves recognition,
but there are other measures of accomplishment.
Today, a person can fly from Europe to America in about two hours, we can fly non-stop from New York
to Singapore, we can even fly an ultra-light airplane around the world without refueling, but generally
considered as the single greatest achievement in the history of flight was accomplished at Kittyhawk,
NC by the Wright brothers.
Today, we can watch a ball game at night and have the field lit like daylight, we have halogen lightbulbs
that are hundreds of times brighter than conventional bulbs, we can enjoy colored lights, neon lights,
Christmas lights, night-lights, energy-efficient lights, and refrigerator lights, yet the lightbulb that is
most celebrated is the fragile, hand crafted, carbon element bulb that was invented by Thomas Edison.
Today, libraries contain millions of printed books, thousands of newspapers are printed daily in
virtually every known language and every city in the world, yet we perhaps the most valuable book in the
world would be an original printing of a Gutenberg Bible.
If compared to today's "new and improved" models, each of this initial attempts might be considered as
a meager beginning and small accomplishment...
but these meager beginnings are recognized precisely because they were the first and
the most difficult.
We congratulate and celebrate with each fellow Quitter who has remained smober for one month, two
months, six months, one year... in fact every milestone. These cleanbreathers have worked hard
battling their addiction and greatly deserve congratulation, admiration and the good wishes of their
fellow quitters. These milestoners are shining examples to be emulated.
But let's face it, it gets easier as time goes on.
At four months plus, I find that the cravings are few and far between and are usually mild. And when I
DO get one of the really strong urges, I'm better prepared to deal with it because I've been doing it for
several months.
Adding another day to my quit meter has become routine now that I have been conditioned to act and
think of myself as a non-smoker/ex-smoker... I simply KNOW that I no longer smoke.
but that first day was pure hell!!!
I remember that day. I don't ever want to go through that again.
I am really proud of the fact that I have gone without smoking for 4 Months 2 Weeks 23 Hours 22
Minutes 50 Seconds since 01/09/1999 at 21:30:00, and have saved $481.18.
But I am much prouder of the fact that
I decided to quit,
I got the tools I needed to quit,
I prepared myself to quit
and I made it through
the FIRST hour,
the FIRST meal,
the FIRST drive,
the FIRST cup of coffee,
and the FIRST twelve hours.
You will face alot of urges and triggers and trials and temptations in the non-smoking years ahead, but
none of those challenges will be nearly as tough as those first twelve hours.
So be proud of your "small accomplishment". Be VERY, VERY proud!
just4u - Vince - May99
Very often we tend to think in terms of quantity (rather than quality) to validate our achievements. We
recognize the twenty year employee, the long-time teacher, the one year, two year, ten year
anniversaries, etc. Each of these milestones is very important and deserves recognition,
but there are other measures of accomplishment.
Today, a person can fly from Europe to America in about two hours, we can fly non-stop from New York
to Singapore, we can even fly an ultra-light airplane around the world without refueling, but generally
considered as the single greatest achievement in the history of flight was accomplished at Kittyhawk,
NC by the Wright brothers.
Today, we can watch a ball game at night and have the field lit like daylight, we have halogen lightbulbs
that are hundreds of times brighter than conventional bulbs, we can enjoy colored lights, neon lights,
Christmas lights, night-lights, energy-efficient lights, and refrigerator lights, yet the lightbulb that is
most celebrated is the fragile, hand crafted, carbon element bulb that was invented by Thomas Edison.
Today, libraries contain millions of printed books, thousands of newspapers are printed daily in
virtually every known language and every city in the world, yet we perhaps the most valuable book in the
world would be an original printing of a Gutenberg Bible.
If compared to today's "new and improved" models, each of this initial attempts might be considered as
a meager beginning and small accomplishment...
but these meager beginnings are recognized precisely because they were the first and
the most difficult.
We congratulate and celebrate with each fellow Quitter who has remained smober for one month, two
months, six months, one year... in fact every milestone. These cleanbreathers have worked hard
battling their addiction and greatly deserve congratulation, admiration and the good wishes of their
fellow quitters. These milestoners are shining examples to be emulated.
But let's face it, it gets easier as time goes on.
At four months plus, I find that the cravings are few and far between and are usually mild. And when I
DO get one of the really strong urges, I'm better prepared to deal with it because I've been doing it for
several months.
Adding another day to my quit meter has become routine now that I have been conditioned to act and
think of myself as a non-smoker/ex-smoker... I simply KNOW that I no longer smoke.
but that first day was pure hell!!!
I remember that day. I don't ever want to go through that again.
I am really proud of the fact that I have gone without smoking for 4 Months 2 Weeks 23 Hours 22
Minutes 50 Seconds since 01/09/1999 at 21:30:00, and have saved $481.18.
But I am much prouder of the fact that
I decided to quit,
I got the tools I needed to quit,
I prepared myself to quit
and I made it through
the FIRST hour,
the FIRST meal,
the FIRST drive,
the FIRST cup of coffee,
and the FIRST twelve hours.
You will face alot of urges and triggers and trials and temptations in the non-smoking years ahead, but
none of those challenges will be nearly as tough as those first twelve hours.
So be proud of your "small accomplishment". Be VERY, VERY proud!
just4u - Vince - May99