quit smoking support @ woofmang.com
people helping people beat the addiction to nicotine
 
help support our communityDonate FAQFAQ SearchSearch RSS FeedRSS Feed MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

Choosing Life

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    quit smoking support @ woofmang.com Forum Index > and rants
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
martinhaus



Quit Date:
August 4, 2004

Posts: 17
Location: Mississippi Gulf Coast

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 12:21 AM    Post subject: Choosing Life Reply with quote

Choosing Life, hmmmmm this is a real conundrum for me. I am definitely choosing to not smoke. This is not the problem. I have worked for almost 24 years in an emergency room as a registered nurse. I have seen probably too much. Much more than the average citizen is privy to. At any rate life is great as long as you are able to recognize the fact that you are alive. My problem is this. Many years ago I decided that living a LONG life is not necessarily (spelling?) for me. If I am functional fine but I do NOT want to become a fixture in some long term care facilities vegetable garden. I don't know if anyone understands where I am going with this and I am not really sure if I understand where I am going with it. I think it is just that living longer is not a real selling point for me. Living better, healthier, happier these all work, but living longer doesn't do it for me. Sorry if this bothers some, I am sure it will, this is just something that I needed to say and I don't even know why. Laughing Demon
_________________

Bonnie
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Tammy



Quit Date:
February 16, 2004

Posts: 2565
Location: Florida

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 1:54 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bonnie, I hope the thought you are having isn't like : 'every body has to die of something.'? My husband use to say that all of the time when the subject of quitting smoking came up. Oh he wanted to live healthy and happy while smoking but when he found out that he needed a double by pass immediatly because where the blockage was a heart attack would kill him. He changed his tune. I agree I don't want to be kept alive with no quality of life but I don't want to allow any excuses to sneak in that would give me cause to ever light up again. Question
_________________

Tammy
Free and loving it!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
martinhaus



Quit Date:
August 4, 2004

Posts: 17
Location: Mississippi Gulf Coast

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 2:44 AM    Post subject: Choosing Life Reply with quote

Tammy,
No this is not where I am going with this. There is no excuse for lighting up again except "I want to smoke". This is the only reason/excuse for smoking. Yes everyone dies, this is a fact, it is the next step in the progression of our lives. I choose daily and sometimes minute by minute to not light up. Just needed to express that maybe for some people longevity is not really an issue. Quality of life is much more important and how greatly we can improve that quality if we do not choose nicotine. In other words I don't especially want to live longer I just want to live better and choosing to be free of nicotine allows me to live better on many levels. Physically, financially, socially etc, etc. Very Happy
_________________

Bonnie
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
tsjay49



Quit Date:
January 1, 2004

Posts: 1863
Location: Kentucky

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 7:47 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

RIGHT ON, BONNIE!

Who wants to sit around at some rest home staring off into space, drooling, soiling our pants, not knowing who we are, not knowing who the people around us are, etc.

Just let me live until I die, as some song says.

It truly is the QUALITY of life that matters, not the length. But, like you said, the quality of life is better without the cigs.

Tom
_________________

If a person with Multiple Personality Disorder threatens suicide, is that considered a hostage situation?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
kevin
Site Admin


Quit Date:
-

Posts: 9538
Location: cincinnati, oh

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 7:57 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

i understand what you're saying, Bonnie; i would never want to be kept functioning past my "useful" (for lack of a better term) life span. when i say, "choose life", i mean it in the broadest sense; i.e., choosing life as opposed to choosing death, which is what we do when we smoke.

i'm irish, and was brought up catholic, and the fatalism of both of those influences is still pretty strong for me; i don't really believe that we can do anything to add even a moment to the length of our lives. when it's our time, it's our time.

but, while we're here, we can choose joy, or we can choose misery. "quality of life" is a good a way as any to put it.
_________________

keep choosing life!

kevin

the zen of the quit
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
law_girl_1969



Quit Date:
-

Posts: 626
Location: Freeburg, Illinois

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 9:13 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bonnie, I think I totally see what you mean, and I'm quite the same way. On the one hand, I long to live long enough to see my kids grown and happy and maybe have families of their own. But with each new invention that promises to keep us alive longer and longer...I don't always smile.

When I choose life, I am choosing to make the most of every minute on earth, and that means not ruining it by being a slave to my addiction.
_________________

Lynn

"There are those who think they can and those who think they can't and they are both right." Henry Ford
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address
ms_tapestry



Quit Date:
October 21, 2009

Posts: 2574
Location: Seminole, TX

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 10:34 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

The timing of the end of our life or another's is not our choice. I believe we are all here for a reason. We are here to learn about ourselves and about each other. I've learned the most important things from the most surprising sources.

I was estranged from my mother for several years, by mutual choice. She moved away to another city and when she moved back home she was terminally ill. She moved in with my grandmother and soon was almost totally incapacitated. I became one of her caretakers, sharing the burden with my grandmother. I bathed her, I feed her, I changed her clothing, I read to her, I watched her die. I will never say I am glad her life ended that way. But somehow because it did we found a way to forgive, to heal. The experience changed me forever, for the better.

I can't know how my life will end. I can only choose how I will live it. I hope when I come to the end that the gifts I have given to others evens out with the gifts I have received from others.
_________________

Tonya

You must do the very thing you think you cannot do.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Marigrrl



Quit Date:
December 1, 2010

Posts: 894
Location: New York

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 10:53 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

tsjay49 wrote:
RIGHT ON, BONNIE!

Who wants to sit around at some rest home staring off into space, drooling, soiling our pants, not knowing who we are, not knowing who the people around us are, etc.

Just let me live until I die, as some song says.

It truly is the QUALITY of life that matters, not the length. But, like you said, the quality of life is better without the cigs.

Tom


Tom's post made me laugh Laughing .

Unfortunately you can't pick and choose what will happen to you in the future, when you will die, how long you will live etc. THe most important thing is making the best of it till you get there. Life is a gift.

Mariko
_________________

Follow Your Bliss
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger
martinhaus



Quit Date:
August 4, 2004

Posts: 17
Location: Mississippi Gulf Coast

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 2:26 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Toms post made me laugh too, although now that song that he referred to keeps running through my head but I can't remember the words or who did it. Confused

Mariko, you are right, no one can choose when or how their life will end, but we can make the choice to live it as well as possible till it does end. Living free of nicotine addiction has already improved my life and how I feel about myself. Every day I think about smoking, I certainly hope that goes away someday but every day I remember how bad the coughing was, how bad the stink was, how much they were costing me and choose to live better.

Kevin, I am glad that you understand. Very Happy
_________________

Bonnie
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
bake10



Quit Date:
October 20, 2004

Posts: 407
Location: Michigan

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 2:28 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree with you Bonnie, i think that way all the time. i don't want to be this old lady stuck in some stinky nursing home. Jeri
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Cowgirl UP!



Quit Date:
July 26, 2004

Posts: 5029
Location: Ala

PostPosted: September 10, 2004 4:23 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree that I do not wish to live past the point where I become a burden on anyone but neither do I wish do hasten my demise...that is where I choose to live...to me it means living each day as if it could be my last. I try not to leave too much undone and hope to not go to bed knowing I may have hurt someone else without saying I am sorry. It has taken me awhile to get here..but this is where I am and where I want to be. I am glad you brought this up Bonnie, now for once (since I quit smoking) I know where I am. Laughing Laughing Laughing
Kay
_________________

All with a little help from my friends, COWGIRL UP
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
martinhaus



Quit Date:
August 4, 2004

Posts: 17
Location: Mississippi Gulf Coast

PostPosted: September 11, 2004 12:50 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Kay,
I am glad that my little rant helped you work some things out. Maybe I am not as nuts as I thought I was. Laughing
_________________

Bonnie
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
terryg



Quit Date:
May 13, 2004

Posts: 177
Location: washington

PostPosted: September 11, 2004 8:09 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

I want to live forever.... I know its imposible.... so..... 100 will do.

Maybe Im selfish, maybe im crazy.

I pray every day for a long productive life and I figured out 121 days ago that I would need to give up the cigs if I was to have any chance at this long life I dream of.

Terry
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    quit smoking support @ woofmang.com Forum Index > and rants All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

quit smoking support
woofmang dot com