So I had to come on here and brag a bit, I just passed the 4 year mark for quitting smoking.  I have not had a single puff, not a single bit of nicotine in that time period at all.  None!

Pretty cool, huh?  Actually I missed the day and was mad because I wanted to buy a cake to celebrate.  But I forget and then realized later that I now had my 4 years in.

So I guess you could say it gets easier over time…..

Let’s take a look at my stats, shall we?  What have I gained from not smoking for 4 years?

* I have avoided smoking approximately 37 THOUSAND cigarettes.

* The cost savings from not having to purchase those cigarettes is just under $7,000 dollars.

* The time I would have spent actually smoking those 37 thousand cigs?  128 days.

128 days of continuous smoking!

If you are still smoking I want you to really think about that.  Imagine smoking, non-stop, for 128 days continuously, without stopping to eat or sleep or anything else.  That is how much time I would have actually been smoking if I had not quit 4 years ago.

Folks, that is crazy.  Just plain nuts.

I don’t really care about the 7 grand, I mean really, who needs another iPod these days, right?  And I’m not even that appalled with the 37 thousand cig total.  But folks, do you realize you are wasting almost an entire month out of each year, engaged in the act of smoking?

We all sleep about 7 to 8 hours a day….so with your remaining, waking hours, you are giving away about a quarter of your life to the act of smoking. This is insane!  A quarter of your free time!  To a mindless activity!

Think of the things you could be doing…..trust me, there are all sorts of things that do not involve smoking.  Exercise is a good one, for example.

I actually run now, on a regular basis.  Quite a bit too.  Pretty sure that quitting smoking has been a driver of that good habit.

“But I actually enjoy it,” you say.

Hah!  No, what you enjoy is avoiding the onset of nicotine withdrawal.  You are confusing avoiding pain with pleasure.  If you measure your happiness, contentment, and ability to handle stress, you will see that all of that stuff gets better after you are nicotine free for a few weeks.  Yes, withdrawal is a major struggle, and not much fun, but if you get through it, you will see that the cigarettes have you fooled……