An Easy Way to Quit Smoking

I stopped smoking cigarettes nearly two years ago. I still think about the addicting habit nearly every day. They only way that I was able to quit smoking was to completely change my lifestyle and to completely change my daily routine.

Two years ago, I visited my doctor. She told me I had pleurisy. Pleurisy is an illness that rests between the lungs and the tissues surrounding the lungs, making each breath a painful ordeal. I continued to smoke even though I was in great pain. I was just that addicted. I could not stop smoking cigarettes. My visit to the doctor quickly changed all of that.

My doctor always advised me to stop smoking cigarettes but she did not lecture me during the visit. She started to write a prescription for antibiotics and something stopped her. She asked, "Is there any way that you could be pregnant?" I thought for a moment and said that maybe we should have a test just to be sure. It turns out that I was.

I went home after picking up my prescription for an antibiotic that was safe for unborn babies. I did not want a cigarette at all. The only thing I could think about was telling my husband the good news. After I got better, I found my cigarettes in my purse and just threw them away. I had quit smoking without even thinking about it.

The combination of being sick with a lung infection and finding out that I was pregnant really pushed me into a mental state that helped me to stop smoking cigarettes. To be honest, I believe that I would have continued to smoke if I wasn't pregnant.

I still think about smoking, but it's more in terms of why I should have quit and why I should never smoke again. I do not want to send the message that smoking is okay to my daughter. It is very easy to tell our children that smoking is very bad for our health, but it is difficult to be a good role model when you are addicted to tobacco.

I'm very glad that having a baby gave me the incentive to stop smoking cigarettes and I'm even more pleased that having a child continues to keep me from starting the habit again. I put the money that I was spending on cigarettes into my daughter's savings account. I thought that it was the least I could do to show my appreciation for the gift she gave to me.