Kicking The Smoking Habit ~ Tips For Diehard Smokers!

First you must be totally committed to kicking your smoking habit . You may fall off the wagon a few times, but persistence will prevail if your mind is totally made up. Choose a special goal day to mark your occasion, I chose Mother’s Day. Think of all the reasons you want to quit, write them down. Here are a few:

1. Quit for yourself and your loved ones.


2. You know smoking is bad for your health! Quit because of all the health risks to your body and for others who are subject to inhale your second hand smoke!


3. Because you don't want to mingle around others, with your clothes and breath smelling like an ashtray. As a woman, I was always self conscious about the cigarette smell.


4. You'll have a cleaner house and car! Surprising the amount of yellow smoke film cigarettes and cigars leave on your white sheer curtains and walls. You can imagine the damage to your lungs, which can't be thrown into the wash!


5. Because you don't want to die prematurely, but instead live to see your children get married, and spend a good part of your life with the grandkids.


6. The high cost of supporting your smoking habit is getting to be ridiculous!


7. A whiter smile!

Somewhere down the line your children will learn about smoking and drugs in school. A major reason I decided to quit. Before my child reached early teens, I made my final choice to kick the habit. I didn’t want another generation of smokers in my family. My parents both smoked, and I could be the one to break the smoking generation chain. Plus you can’t stand there and tell your kids not to smoke, while puffing on a Marboro Light! My love for my child is truly deeper than my love for cigarettes.

The last thing you need is someone to preach to you, and tell what you should and shouldn’t do. I quit cold turkey, and believe me this was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. I truly enjoyed smoking, it was an exhilarating feeling. Smoking calmed me down when I was stressed or nervous. Pumped me up when I needed a lift. An upper and a downer all in one habit, almost as good as sex or chocolate. I still miss it’s euphoric effects today! Expressions only a diehard smoker would make! But here are some pointers you can focus on, when you decide to quit:

1. Remember those hot cinnamon toothpicks we loved when we were young? I use them to help with my cravings. Target sells them online, or you can make your own! I like the cinnamon ones, helps take the edge off!


2. Walk! Walking is the greatest and most rewarding of all exercises to me. You can take your dog or spouse on a nice hike in the woods. Especially after dinner when the urge to smoke is the greatest, and take a few hot toothpicks with you on your walk. Instead of concentrating on smoking, you'll see all the wonderful things in nature to live for! Plus your dog will love you for it, and you and your spouse may find a private spot to neck!


3. Clean rooms in your house or garage. You have more time to beautify your home, or now as they call it crib, making every room a tidy place to be proud of!


4. Always keep busy and active. I promise you'll have more energy, breath better, and be able to walk up stairs and hills, without losing your wind! Constantly moving around will help keep you fit!


5. My Ultimate Life Protocol Learn To Love Yourself! Even when someone puts you down, keep being who you are! You hold the greatest power over your demons! People who can't stand by you, aren't your friends!

We’ll all face our mortality at some point in our lives, but let it be much later than sooner! Like the quote from my favorite Pink Floyd song: “Breath ~Breath in the air, Don’t be afraid to care! Leave but don’t leave me.” My longtime friend and I have a special motto: Love yourself first and the rest of your life will just fall in place! Usually it’s the opposite, we love others before ourselves, and let ourselves go. Typical adult behavior especially of women!

Remember life is our most profound gift and there’s only one uniquely you! Mother’s Day 2009 marked four smokeless years for me. My daughter was amazed at her mother for quitting a longtime habit. I look into her beautiful eyes everyday, and know I made the right decision for the both of us!

I wish you much luck on your smoking cessation endeavors!

My Related Story Post: Prohibition Regression In Economic Recession!

Three Year Remembrance ~ My Tree Of Life

The coming of Spring leaves me bittersweet. The season which brings vibrant life to the earth, brings forth memories of death to my heart each year. While robins fill the air with chirping song, my sweet mother lies six feet under the ground.

Death gives life, and life in return gives death. April 6th marked the three year anniversary of my mother's death. I still remember the last night I was with her, as if it were yesterday. We were very close. more like sisters than mother and daughter. Someone stole her small budda, I left there last Summer. Budda will bring theives much bad luck!

We decided on purple daisies, and yelllow daffodils this year for moma's black vases. The purple daisies have a yellow center. My nephew rolled his little red tractor on top of moma's shinny black headstone. When we buried moma that evening a full moon lit the darkness. I hated leaving her there all alone, yet it was as if the moonlight had welcomed her! In fact this week we had nights of glowing full moon!

The tree above was taken at our cemetary, which grows only a few feet away from our plots. When I die I'll be looking up at this big ole tree. Towering high to the sky, the tree of life barely makes it's branches in my photo. Much life scurries above thousands of headstones in this beautiful typical Pennsylvania country like setting.

I believe you can miss a person more, the longer they're gone! We hadn't even celebrated the first Easter when moma died. In fact holidays are the hardest without her presence. Yet her death brought the first two wonderful baby boys into our family. They've become our main focus now. Moma was the strong deep rooted tree, and we all continue to live on through her ever guilding loving spirit!

Read past tribute posts to my mother here:

A Poetry Tribute To My Japanese Mother

Two Years ~ A Tribute To My Japanese Mother

To The Man I Love!

He's no modern day Casanova.
He's a man
in every sense of the word,
an intelligent man possessing,
a young boy's ornery humor.

Iron hands to handle any daily task,
yet so gentle when making love.

A hard working man
who never requires more,
than a long strenuous day
he constantly puts forth.

A big, strong man
who's embrace makes me feel,
like a woman,
in every sense of the word.

A proud stubborn man
who walks this earth,
with a generous heart
spanning just as vast.

And the rare tears
I have seen him cry,
brings me ever closer...

To the man
I love..
in every sense of the word.

©Jo A. True-Burkholder 2004-2008.

June 2, 2008 marked my husband and I's 18th anniversay. I wrote this poem for him for Valentines day in 2004. 18 years is a milestone in our present day and age. I'm one out of three sisters still married. I see it as the norm ,1 out of 3 marriages lasts these days. The luster has not gone out of my marriage after18 years. In fact we have only been drawn closer to each other especially over the past two years. We've lost our parents, my mother, and his father. Two really great parents, who loved to party and enjoy life to the fullest. It is our deep love that keeps them alive in our hearts. We've had our ups and downs, no one is perfect or should have to be. Life is a hard enough journey, let alone not being able to be ourselves.

I married my best friend and the man I still lust for to this day. I hope we never become a statistic. I can see us as that old couple only separated by death, and not even then. He still buys me flowers, opens doors, and carries heavy things. But most of all, he is always at my side when I need him. In this modern day when marrige is no longer an institution, ours continues to thrive. We awake to beat the odds with every passing day, and every daily hurdle we have to cross. Like they say the grass is not always greener on the other side, and a good partner is even harder to find. Trust is the key to a great marriage. Trust, patience, and a whole lot of love! Long live us hopeless romantics!!