I really, really, really wanted to share that video that I posted yesterday of Dougy sucking up my attention, even though yesterday was an anniversary I like to remember. It was December 1, 1998 that I decided to quit smoking and succeeded, now for 16 years! I sucked the last smoke into my lungs that date at 3:30 AM.

Yes, December 1st is a happy day for me because it is a reminder of how a terrible, self-destructive habit needn’t take complete, final control of one’s life. I made up my mind, stopped cold turkey, and haven’t smoked since.

How did I manage this? I was a heavy smoker and actually liked it except for the cost and stink on my clothes.

Simply this — I told myself I was still a smoker for life, even if I never smoked another cigarette. That is to say, I could smoke another cigarette any time I wanted to, if I decided to, if I needed to.

Yet in all those 16 years, I had a craving for a cigarette only once. I woke up on the third day convinced I’d fallen asleep smoking a cigarette, that it had fallen on the floor and under my bed! You bet I was on my hands and knees looking under my bed! At least until I woke up completely and realized the cigarette was a dream.

That morning, I could have started up again with little effort, but I didn’t feel like cleaning up and driving clear across town to the one or two places I could have purchased cigarettes at that time of day. Instead, I laughed at how my subconscious mind tried to trick me into doing just that! Good for me!

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I have no idea if the clip art attached to this post is copyright free or not. I got it off the clip art link in PowerPoint. My guess is it is free to use, but I will remove it if told otherwise.