Sun's out...

a welcome sight, as are the moderating temps. I hope you are toasty where you are, enjoying yet one more day of smokefreedom. If you are a new quitter, maybe still in the throes of withdrawal, or at the point of realizing the fog is lifting (finally!), please know all quitters rejoice with you! You are reclaiming your life from demon nic(otine)!

The nic battle is won on a daily basis...and if you need to break it down even further, do it...WITS (Whatever It TakeS), WIN (Whatever Is Necessary). A successful nicotine recovery journey must include a healthy respect for nicotine. Why? Because it is an addictive drug, one not to be pooh-poohed. Nicotine is insidious, sneaky, brain-warping, and deadly. If I forget...or if I become complacent or lazy I'm opening my quit up to nicotine's slimy sabotage.

We've read the stories so often of folks who have years of smoberdom under their belts, who for all intents and purposes have their nic addiction under control. When you hear they slipped or relapsed you think, oh, no, not *them*! How could they let that happen?

Addicts are never cured of their addiction, no matter the substance (alcohol, prescription drugs, illegal drugs, nicotine, caffeine, etc.). Recovery is within the reach of all who are willing to do WITS, WIN, but a cure has not been discovered or manufactured.

And here's The Patience Prayer. It is a takeoff on The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr(sp) , reflecting our recovery from nicotine addiction.

Patience Prayer

God, grant me the Patience to let the smokefree process work. Help me keep in mind the length of time I smoked. Help me understand that I won't become smokefree overnight. Or even in a week, two weeks, three weeks.

Help me understand each of us is different and that becoming smokefree will take as long as it takes for me, just as it does for the next person.

Help me realize the futility of comparing myself to others in the process. It takes what it takes--for them, for me. Help me to a greater acceptance that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be in the process, whether it is the first day, the 100th day, the 1,000th day.

Calm my spirit, allay my fears, remove the negativity and doubt from my life. Open my eyes and my heart as my smokefree process continues so that, with gratitude, I may be of service to others in their processes.

God bless us all on our smokefree journeys. Amen.
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Remember, we need to learn to be kind to ourselves, because actually we're learning how to 'walk in this world' all over again, minus nicotine.

I'm looking over long-ago posts of mine & will be sharing them as time goes on...

Have yourselves a super smokefree Inauguration Day!

--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann

Smoked 44+yrs.; 7+yrs. smokefree (by God's grace thru WebMD, my Land O'Smokeless friends and my family); 84,748 not smoked; $15,254+ saved; 42+weeks tacked onto my life's end, God willing! (Go to silkquit.org & download yourself a free quitmeter for even more motivation!)