I started smoking cigarettes when I was 18 and I won't lie I absolutely loved it. I wasn't just addicted to the nicotine I was extremely addicted to the actual habit of smoking. My favorite part about it was the slight break from the day just going out for a quick break sitting outside with just me and my thoughts, I loved it. When I found out I was pregnant I immediately knew I had to quit smoking. This was very hard for me, but I did manage to do it and I was really proud of myself. When you quit smoking there are obviously a hole mess of invisible benefits such as you will be healthier, your life expectancy goes up, your risk of 101 diseases goes down, etc. etc. The visible benefits, however, are so incredibly exciting and it wasn't until just recently that I started noticing them.
The First thing I noticed was obviously our bank account, it wasn't dropping every single day. There would be days where it hardly seemed to change. Jack and I were smoking together about a pack and half a day which is equivalent tp $10.50 a day. Right away we are saving $320 a month a little over $3,800 a year!
The second thing I noticed and loved was the fact that I no longer smelt like cigarettes. I went crazy over the fact that I didn't have to douse myself in perfume 1800 times a day.
The third thing I noticed was my absolute favorite and this one took me the longest to figure out. Before I got pregnant I would do my tae-bo workouts and after 15 minutes I would be completely out of breath and wouldn't be able to do it for much longer. Running was completely out of the question, I'd run for about 5 minutes and want to collapse. When I started doing tae-bo again I expected to be out of breath after 20 minutes and planned on only doing it for that long. I was shocked to find that I made it through the entire video without gasping for air. It honestly took me a couple work outs to realize Duh! Lauren you're not smoking anymore. This was such an amazing feeling I can't even explain. I immediately wanted to run all over town and do everything that would normally leaving me desperately out of breath.
Another one of my favorite things about not being a smoker any more is not having people stare at me like I'm punching kittens. Non-smokers are sometimes really brutal to smokers, I've had so many vicious comments said to me. It was honestly so annoying and I am so glad I don't have to deal with it any more.
I wish I had some good advice for anybody who may be trying to quit, but to be honest I don't. I fought it tooth and nail and had such a hard time with it. Honestly, I wouldn't have been able to do it if it wasn't for Jack pushing me and of course being pregnant with my daughter. My only suggestion is to not wait until you're pregnant to quit, because that made it so much harder. Having my crazy hormones and being super emotional from pregnancy was NOT easy.
P.S I'm pretty sure my daughter is a snow queen. I went into labor during a horrible snow storm then she decided she wasn't coming and the storm stopped for a day. Sure enough it started again the next day and she was born. Now, we're having the worst blizzard in history, coincidence? I think not.
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