The hardest times for me to not reach for a cigarette are when I am alone. The family is gone, the house is quite and I have “me” time. That’s when I really want to smoke.

I think that I wouldn’t be hurting anyone else, and no one else has to know. I realize that this kind of thinking is ridiculous, but in that moment it seems to make sense to me because that’s how bad I want to smoke.

It’s best to keep busy at that time when I feel no resolve for my mission. A lot of times I journal, or call a friend, anything to keep my mind off of smoking. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that this desire to smoke will ever truly go away, but I’ve been told that it will leave, so I press onward.

I suppose the thing that keeps me the most motivated is my family. My daughter has begun to ask me if I will die from smoking. This really stung me to my core. I’m doing this mostly for her. I want to be a good example and I don’t want her to constantly be worrying that her mother is going to die.