up in smoke

Before I delve into my story of transformation I have to finish telling you how I got to where I was in the first place. Anyone here like spicy food? I do. In fact I don't just like it...I crave it. Writing this now is making my mouth water :P The reason I am telling you this is; more than spicy food, I loved a beautiful, comforting cigarette right after a hot meal....mmmm. Now, that would have been fine if all I had was one directly after a meal. But those who know me, know that I have an addictive personality and 1 quickly turned to 2, turned to 10, turned to a pack, finally turned to 2 packs (would have been more if there was more time and more opportunity to smoke). 2 packs a day! 50 cigarettes...looking at this number, I am dumbfounded and astonished at how much I used to smoke and how happy I am now that I don't. See, my decision to get healthier started with changing my mentality. But no matter how much you tell yourself, "tomorrow I will start to eat healthy" or "next week I'll start to go to the gym" or "today I won't smoke", it all means nothing until you actually do it. For me it wasn't too hard. To quit smoking, you can't be told or forced to quit, you have to literally make a conscious decision each and every time you have craving...eventually the cravings will be less and less. For me, all it took was an overly tight seatbelt and the inability to breathe that did it. I haven't smoked since. and that was really the first step to successfully living a healthier life.