Member-only story
How I Quit Smoking
If this is your New Year’s resolution, you need to read this
This is the time of year may people decide to quit smoking for their New Year’s resolution. The sad truth is that most people who will quit will not be successful. I was, and this is my story.
The Backdrop
I quit smoking in the summer of 1998, after 17 years of it. Today, some 24 years later, I still consider it one of my biggest and most important accomplishments as an adult.
I grew up in a smoking household in the 1960s and 1970s. Both of my parents smoked, as did my older siblings. As a matter of fact, most of the adults I knew smoked. I grew up believing smoking was a normal adult activity, like driving a car or having a job. I gave it a try when I was 11 years old, and the horrid taste of my first drag made me dizzy. It was enough to make me not try it again for many years.
I didn’t smoke in high school, and not even in the Army where, again, most people I knew smoked. I didn’t smoke during a two-year stint working in a paper mill either, even though many of the people I worked with did. I didn’t begin smoking until I was 23 years old, which is fairly old. Most people start when they are in their teens. I guess I was a late bloomer, so to speak.
