Kia ora everyone. I'm Rangi and I'm here to say hi and introduce myself. I started smoking when I was 14. Fast forward 23 years and I'm now into day 22 of my real deal quit. I'm so grateful for this site and I could not have done it without the information / education here. It may sound crazy, but I was so relieved and liberated to learn I'm an addict. It beats being an imbecile who can't stop smoking hands down (that's what I thought of myself.) By the time I quit I was smoking 2 50gram packets of tobacco a week. I had smoked through 4 pregnancies and I can't even bring myself to read the pregnancy and smoking information on this site yet. I'm approaching middle age and mortality just seems a lot more real. At quit date my chest and back felt "cavernous", my feet were always cold and my shins discoloured. I'm convinced I have scorched the inside of my nose. I couldn't smell anything, and I'm half deaf. Just endless physical smoking effects. My psychological state was also quite bad by the time I quit. I felt chronically inferior to "normal people" (my descriptor for never smokers), scared that I could not quit, and incredibly guilty that I might abandon the kids by dying early through smoking. In a nutshell, I want to live longer. I want to see my kids grow up and I want to meet and love my grandchildren. I want to have heaps more fun with my partner. Those are the reasons I quit.
I went for a run the other day. It was AMAZING. I could breathe, incredible. I can smell better (stopped using my facial clenser - it smells hideous!) and it feels good to deliver on the endless stop smoking promises I have made to my son who is now going on 10 years old. My sleep is still mucked up - but our young kids will be part of that.
I am proud to be somkefree, and sometimes gleeful. Other times I am scared that it's too late. Time will tell.
I am utterly committed to this community - people who take their quit seriously and support others in their quit. Thanks to John, Joel and all the workers who make Freedom/Whyquit possible. Thanks to those who share their stories and battles and words of nicotine freedom. xxx
I went for a run the other day. It was AMAZING. I could breathe, incredible. I can smell better (stopped using my facial clenser - it smells hideous!) and it feels good to deliver on the endless stop smoking promises I have made to my son who is now going on 10 years old. My sleep is still mucked up - but our young kids will be part of that.
I am proud to be somkefree, and sometimes gleeful. Other times I am scared that it's too late. Time will tell.
I am utterly committed to this community - people who take their quit seriously and support others in their quit. Thanks to John, Joel and all the workers who make Freedom/Whyquit possible. Thanks to those who share their stories and battles and words of nicotine freedom. xxx

