Quitting has felt like madness sometimes...

15 months and counting--no smokes. It hasn't been easy to quit, but I guess I am in a sizable minority regarding this. When I first quit, I thought I'd spend five weeks or a few months kicking the habit then I'd get back to my comfortable old routine just with out the smokes. Didn't work out like that. I discovered that I have a seemingly bottomless well of resistance to change!

And just when I think I've got a foothold on what it means to get on with life without the smokes, I find myself anxious and unfocused--not really wanting to smoke anymore, but "life" just doesn't seem quite right either.

The degree to which I sometimes miss my old life is somewhat discouraging. But I was a smoker since the age of 17, and I quit at the age of 54. I take solace in the fact that perhaps it is best to follow my dear mother's wisdom, 'Give it time." She always was right.

I imagine myself hoisting my spiritual sails...hoping for a good wind.

A Reminder That TOBACCO is an Industry: Caring about the outcome of smoking is not a part of the industries business model

I stumbled upon an hour long documentary on YouTube that reveals why an increasing number of folks in India are taking up smoking--turns out regulation is low, activism is in its infancy, and the tobacco industry is "enjoying" great freedom in advertising tobacco through all forms of media.

I liked my smokes,and I miss em' BUT watching this documentary reminds me that the tobacco industry is only concerned with earning a buck from my smoking. No more than that. 

Given this truth, I really do have to be my own activist...

And I owe a debt of gratitude to those activists who have lead the charge to change all the laws that have lessened the impact of tobacco industries ability to sell itself in the USA--