A Healthier You?

With January fast approaching people will be thinking about lifestyle changes and new years resolutions. I can't believe that come 2016 I will have been a non-smoker for several years now. It was such a massive achievement in my life and I can't tell you how much healthier I have felt for it. I am always amazed by the statistics that surround smoking and smoking related illnesses. Did you know that every year approximately 100,000 people die from smoking related causes........unbelievable! I remember when I used to smoke and caught a cold or had a cough just how much longer an illness would hang around, often it would linger for months! After a few years of quitting I definitely notice a difference in being a bit more healthier and feeling happier. 

Bizarrely it took my Dad having a huge heart attack (caused by both stress and smoking) for me to quit. I often look back on this and wish that I had quit before my Dad fell poorly, it's amazing what shocks you into quitting or stopping doing something that you know is bad for you. One of the other reasons that I wanted to stop smoking was the astronomical amount of money that I was spending on a weekly basis, what I could have bought with the money that I spent on cigarette's I don't really want to think about if I'm honest..... thousands and thousands of pound up in smoke, literally. 

When I quit it was quite an instant decision. I went out and smoked my last cigarette and that was pretty much it. I did relapse a couple of times but I knew within that week that I wouldn't be a smoker by the end of that particular week. It did take a whole load of determination more than anything, I tried patches but they just didn't seem to work for me so pure stubbornness and determination resulted me in being a non-smoker. I am no way saying it was easy, I still maintain to this day it was one of THE hardest things that I have ever done but it really was worth it, I feel much happier, healthier and definitely have a better quality of life and I hope it will have extended my life by a few years. 

I probably could have written so much more and raved about how pleased I am to be a non-smoker but I don't want to do that because I truly believe that if you want to  stop smoking you will when the time is right and you have to do it for yourself and no one else otherwise you might not succeed. It really is worth the determination though if you are planning or stopping smoking.

If you are thinking about quitting or want to start the new year off with a healthier you head on over to benenden for lots of tips and ideas about where to start and how to achieve them.  

*Collaborative post.