Reflections on my 6th week of quitting smoking
I would like to share my experience of quitting smoking cold turkey after 25 years.
(Rather than saying I "quit," it might be more accurate to say I am "enduring" it ^^)
1. Smoking History
- Started smoking in the military and have been a smoker for about 25 years.
- Also used e-cigarettes (heated tobacco, liquid type, nicotine-free, etc.).
- Smoked one pack a day, including e-cigarettes.
2. Quit Date
- From 9/24 to the present, approximately the 6th week.
3. Reason for Quitting
- 13th year of working at a large corporation.
- Since I joined the company at a later age, I lived focusing more on work than family to gain recognition and achieve rapid promotion.
- I was highly sensitive to others' reputations / had a strong desire for recognition / developed anger management issues / tried to control all major tasks at work. These factors caused a lot of stress.
- Crucially, I didn't realize I was under stress myself. However, my body reacted.
- After turning 40, my health began to fail with conditions like shingles, a herniated disc, indigestion, and cholecystitis.
- The deciding factor was vestibular neuritis; I was bedridden for two weeks and thought, "I might actually die like this."
- This disease is so terrifying because the dizziness makes it impossible to do anything. You can't sit or stand; you must stay lying down, and even then, you feel dizzy.
- I couldn't eat for 7 days and survived only on Pocari Sweat. I lost 5kg in two weeks. Whenever I tried to eat, I would vomit everything due to the dizziness.
4. Life After Recovery
- During those two weeks of being bedridden, I thought a lot. I thought deeply about how I cannot continue living this way, how I must change my mindset, and how I need to let things go. Most importantly, I decided to quit smoking.
- Since returning to work, I have faced the temptation to smoke about three times. The 3rd to 4th week was the most dangerous period.
- Now, even when I am around smokers, I don't crave cigarettes.
- At work, I am trying to focus only on my own tasks and work at a relaxed, steady pace.
- My approach to work life is "pretend not to know even if you know, and pretend not to hear even if you hear."
(I feel like I am gradually being excluded from major tasks.)
- I am apologizing to my wife and children and trying to focus on my family.
That is all for now.
Health is the most important thing. If you lose your health, everything you have built up until now is worthless!
I hope you don't live your life struggling too desperately.
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