Amy picked up a bad habit in high school while she was riding around town with her friends. That habit, smoking, followed her for more than a decade when she decided to change the course of her life and quit cold turkey on Thanksgiving.
Amy's Story
"I stared smoking when I was a teenager because it was rebellious and I wanted to be a bad ass."
I started smoking with my girlfriends in high school when we were driving around because I wanted to do anything that my parents were not happy with. Then I got my own car, and I started smoking in my car. Then I went to college and I started smoking all the time. I moved to Italy to do my study abroad, and in Italy it was a free for all. I smoked in my apartment, in restaurants, everywhere I went. I smoked constantly, and when I came back home I kept smoking. It had become an addiction.
"By the time I was 25, I had been smoking for 10 years."
To be 25 years old and to have been a regular smoker for a decade, that was an eye-opener. I started to be embarrassed that I smoked, and I felt like I had to hide the fact that I smoked. I didn't want to smell like cigarettes, and I started feeling that I didn't want to do this anymore about six months before I actually quit.
"I wanted to be done and get it over with."
When I finally decided that I wanted to give it a go and stop smoking I knew that I had to do it for real. I didn't want to dilly-dally or quit for a week and get back into it. Admitting to myself that, "I am going to quit smoking. I am going to be a non-smoker," was the first major step. Once I felt comfortable with that and I knew that I was going to go through with it, I could do other things in preparation.
"I started telling every person that I know that I was going to quit smoking."
The first major step was to tell everyone I know, "Hey, guess what. I am going to quit smoking!" Then I set a date; I was going to quit smoking the day after Thanksgiving. I told everyone I knew - I even sent out emails - so that I couldn't mess around. It was a mental way to prepare. I had to completely convince myself that I was going to go through with it. I bought every flavor of Altoid that they make, chewy candies, just stuff to keep putting in my mouth.
"On Thanksgiving day, I ate a feast, smoked a cigarette, and threw out the pack of cigarettes. That was it, done!"
I inquired through my family doctor about medications and he said that some prescriptions help a lot of people, but I just wanted to do it naturally. I planned the day after Thanksgiving and the next three days to stay with a girlfriend so I wouldn't be in my own house yet I wasn't in a totally foreign place. I knew no matter how mean or snappy or rude I got, she would just deal with it. I went to her with a bag full of clothes and we just watched movies all day. I knew the first few days would be the worst, so I planned to take it easy. I was definitely irritable and frustrated, but because I was mentally prepared, it wasn't the torture that I thought it was going to be.
"When I went back to my everyday life, I had to break some old habits."
Going back to work was difficult because I was used to taking breaks and going outside and smoking a cigarette. After I quit I would take a break and walk around the office instead. It was hard to get in my car and not smoke because I was so used to getting in my car and lighting up. I would get in, roll down the windows and light up every time I got in my car. Then one day it was raining, and I was like, "Hey, I don't have to get soaked when it's raining."
For a few weeks I couldn't go out because I have a lot of friends who smoke socially, and I was so used to doing it when I was out. If I would say to my friends, "I am not smoking. Would you please not smoke around me," they would do that, and it really helped. People were super supportive. I couldn't have done it without my friends and family being so wonderful and supportive.
"Smoking is still on my mind, but I'm not a slave to the cigarette any more."
Honestly, I still think about smoking on an almost daily basis, but it isn't like I wish I could smoke right now. In college I would wake up in the morning, go turn on the coffee pot, go outside and smoke a cigarette first thing - in my pajamas, still half asleep. The thought of that now grosses me out, but it was my life then.
I am a million times happier that I don't smoke. It is a freedom thing. In a way I felt like I was a slave to the cigarette. I had to think if I was going to run out of cigarettes, if I had a lighter, just weird, stupid stuff that I had to plan for. Now it is out of my life, and I feel amazing.
