Easy as cake.

The most striking thing about quitting smoking is the number of people who feel the need to congratulate you and then ask how you’re doing. Then their eyes get all wide when they find out you quit cold turkey sans patch or Nicorette® or any of that other junk. I guess that works for some people but I just don’t see the purpose.

Actually the most striking thing is the sense of taste (and, Tom, just because I’ve written about it before does not mean I can’t expand upon it) that I didn’t even realize I lost in the first place that is slowly returning. It’s especially evident with tarter and tangier liquids. Tuesday I took a sip of my vodka soda and realized that Photogal has been right all along. There IS a truckload of booze in those drinks…I just could never really tell before since it all tasted like so much fizzy water to me!

Another thing; I’m not breathing all that heavily after climbing up a few flights of stairs anymore. Wow! I do a lot of cardio activity but no matter how much I did the shortness of breath would always catch up with me. Now, after about two weeks with no cigarettes in my system, I’ve accomplished what two years at the gym could not. Does the human body really start repairing itself that quickly? It’s pretty amazing.

I was just looking over the opening of this piece and it occurred to me I might have come off a bit too harshly. I do appreciate the support being shown to me as I quit a habit I’ve had for fifteen years now. And I don’t want you to think that there’s no struggle at all since I do want the occasional smoke. But it’s not the epic battle that some seem to face when they quit. I think it runs in my family since once we set our mind to do something, it’s done. This doesn’t always work in my favor since at times it just turns me into a stubborn bastard, but in this case I’d say it’s a good trait.

Basically what it comes down to is this. Cigarettes are not heroin. Nicotine may be physically addicting but I have yet to hear an ex-smoker tell the tale of how they had to be tied down to their bed and puked through hallucinations for three weeks straight. It just doesn’t happen. Any habit can be broken. You just have to decide that you really want to break it. Deceptively simple, eh?