You Smell Like an Ashtray.

Today's post was brought to you by Victory Laser for Smoking Cessation.

They do good stuff. 

They did not pay me for this post, nor will they pay me. 

Nor shall I pay them, because I don't smoke. But if you do, you should consider it. 

....

Smoking is really gross. Not only is it terrible for your children or the people around you's children to breathe in, but it's also full of some pretty disgusting things. And there is no reason for it. Not one single reason that makes smoking a logical thing to do. But people still do it. Because we like rituals and smoking is the ultimate hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute ritual.

A long long time ago I tried smoking. I tried smoking a lot. I tried smoking in highschool. I tried smoking in college. I tried smoking after college. I smoked because my friends did and because I told myself that it was the only way that I'd be able to "have a conversation with people in the industry, since they were all outside smoking." I smoked because it made me feel cool. There. I said it. 

I am the luckiest person in the world or something, because somehow, with all of that smoking, I never got addicted. I could go from smoking a pack in a couple of days to not smoking for weeks or months and it was no sweat off my back. I never fully started, but I never fully quit. Until I got pregnant, of course. 

Then something inside of me changed. I hated smoking. I hated all that it represented and all of those logical reasons for smoking that I had told myself again and again, they weren't so logical any more.

In fact, they were down right stupid. 

Just like that I was able to stop. Because I wasn't addicted. Maybe I'm broken chemically, I don't know, because most people, they do get addicted. Really addicted. Chemically dependant, if you will. 

My dad is. My Step-Mom kind of is. My Mom is. Some of my sisters are. Hubs was. Many of my friends are. My kids might be some day. Oh gosh, I hope not. 

For the people that aren't weird freaks of nature like me, there are a few ways to try and quit. But I always hear the same things... "It was too hard!" .... "I tried chewing gum, but it wasn't the same!" ... "I stopped for _____ months, that counts for something!" 

Quitting smoking is one of the hardest things most people ever try to accomplish. I'm pretty sure most of them wish they could go back in time and just knock that first cigarette out of their hand. Tell their younger selves to go have a beer or something, anything but smoke. 

Thankfully there are now ways to stop the cravings. One of those ways is Smoking Cessation through Laser Therapy. Similar to acupuncture, with only one treatment the cravings are stopped. The nerve endings that transmit cravings from your body to your brain are interrupted. For good. The only reason a person who's had a therapy like the one that Victory Laser offers is if they actually make the choice to smoke. That's the thing about any type of discipline, once you make a choice that you refuse to turn back from it can be easy... or at least easier. 

How did you start smoking if you do? Do you want to quit? Have you quit? How did you do it if you did or what have you tried to stop?