FROM:  MaddMaxx  6-28-2002  

I think it's time to revamp my profile. I've been quit for 26 months now and have never felt better in my life. There have been so many new quitters join the Q in the last few years, I feel the need to reintroduce myself.   

My quit started when I got a phone call at work one night from my wife telling me that my Dad had been admitted into the hospital because he was coughing up blood. On the way to the hospital that night, I had to stop by the stop-and-choke store to pick up a pack of smokes. I stood outside the hospital doors and huffed down three smokes because I didn't know how long it would be until I could smoke again. 

I stood at my Dad's bedside when the doctors told him he was going to die of lung cancer. For the first time, I saw fear in my Dad's eyes. My Dad was an incredibly strong man. He was a veteran of WWII who survived having two ships sunk from under him, countless battles with the enemy and the Bataan Death March before escaping from a Japanese prison camp to rejoin the fighting. He squeezed my hand that night and told me, "Son, its time for you to put down the smokes or you will be next to lay in this bed and be told you are going to die." I promised my Dad right then and there that I was going to quit smoking and that I was going to dedicate my quit to him. As I left the hospital in tears that night, I threw that new pack of smokes in the trash can and have never looked back. Never.  

My Dad died six weeks later. He had a softball-sized tumor rupture in his lungs causing him to literally drown in his own blood as he lay in bed.  

My Dad gave me a gift that night. He gave me my quit. He paid for my gift with his life. Out of the ashes of my grief arose a phoenix; my quit. I consider myself very fortunate to have received this wonderful present and will cherish my quit for the rest of my life. 

The quit is all about maintaining a positive attitude. After the first week, the quit becomes a psychological war. It's you and your brain, standing toe-to-toe, duking it out. If you keep focusing on the positive aspects of the quit (there are millions) then you can't help but to be successful. If you want to quit badly enough, you will quit.  

I am a nicotine addict. You are a nicotine addict. If we weren't addicts, we wouldn't be here at the Q. As long as you understand and accept your addiction then you are on the right path to taking back control of your life. Smoking is the most unnatural act there is. None of us were born with a lit cigarette stuck in our toothless mouths. If you stay with your quit long enough, it becomes a part of you so much so that you won't be able to recognize yourself without it. You will reach the point (as I have) that the very idea of smoking will be very strange to you and the cravings will go away forever.  

I guess that I've said enough. Before I go, I'd like to share a concept authored by my good friend and Q-mentor, Liiza. I think she has hit the bullseye of the quit with the following words: 

"I believe that every moment not smoking is a victory - you string a few victories together and you win a battle, you may lose one now and then, but remember to keep stringing the victories together and you get stronger and stronger, the battles get easier and you can win the war." 

 Also, did you know that: 

 47% of the people who have ever smoked (and are still alive), haven't smoked in the past six months.  

 What this fact means is that for every smoker, there's an ex-smoker. 

 Millions of smokers have successfully quit. So can you! 

 Now get into that ring, put on your boxing gloves and fight, fight, FIGHT!