One of the best... no, THE best thing I ever did for myself was to quit smoking. I smoked for about 20 years, from my teens to my mid-thirties. I followed my favorite Rock Stars, they all smoked... always had a cigarette hanging off their lips while playing the guitar, or they had it stuck underneath a string up by the headstock of the instrument. I thought they looked so cool. I actually enjoyed smoking, I was inhaling 3 packs a day. That habit today would cost me anywhere from $15- $25 a day. In New York it's over $9. a pack, but you can find them cheaper they tell me. But anyway that's between $5500 & $9000 a year... I think when I quit it was around $2 a pack, that was still around $2000 a year. No wonder I'm broke today, LOL.
More important than the money, is my health... near the end of my smoking days, I was coughing constantly. I had to wake up a half hour early to get the coughing out of the way... then I could light up. At the end I wasn't enjoying it much anymore, and I made some half-hearted attempts at quitting. I wanted to quit, but I never set a goal or planned anything. I'd quit for a day or 2 and then buy a pack.
The day I finally decided to really quit, it was immediate. It was in the early 90's and we were leaving for a trip to Florida, driving all the way. We rented a brand new Mini-Van, it had 75 miles on it and still had that new car smell. I couldn't see ruining a new car with my nasty habit. We were leaving for Florida at 1:30am for a couple of reasons... First I worked nights so I was used to being up at that hour, secondly we figured it would be a good thing to have the kids sleeping through a good part of the ride and thirdly we wanted to miss the morning rush hour near D.C... ok so we have everything packed in the van, kids are asleep, apartment is locked up and we're ready to go. I'm standing outside the vehicle having my last few drags on my last cigarette, smoking it down to the butt and inhaling deeply. I toss the butt on the ground and get in the van to start our epic journey and I've never had another cigarette. I figured if I can quit smoking on such a long trip with the kids screaming and fighting in the back of the car, I'd stay quit.
I did come close to buying a pack on that trip once, we made a stop for a night in Georgia and I'd figure I'd get a 6pack of beer to enjoy for the evening. We walked into a convenience store, up to the beer coolers and grabbed the door handle and... it wouldn't open... it was locked... I walked up to the counter to tell the clerk of the problem I was having and he says in his southern drawl, "We can't sell no beer on no Sunday." I said it's after 12pm, citing the NY Blue Laws, he says, "in Georgia ya can't buy no beer on Sundays at no time." I woulda had him with the double negatives, but he threw in a third one which counteracted his double. He got me with those triple negatives. Anyway, I almost bought some cigarettes instead, but I had come too far and talked myself out of it.
And that is the single biggest thing I have done for my well-being and I'm glad I was strong enough to stay quit.
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