BREAKING THE ADDICTION: HOW TO QUIT SMOKING
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Copyright 2009 by Marlow Doyle (JDV)
All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Preface
Part I - Mental Aspects Essential to Quitting
- Introduction
- Facing the Music
- The Hook
Part II - Quitting Tactics
- Intrinsic Value
- The Voices in Your Head
- People Watching
Part III - Coping With A New Lifestyle
- Environment & Support
- The Rounds
- Healthy Substitutes
~~~~Preface~~~~
My name is Marlow Doyle. It is a pen name, for I wish to keep my identity anonymous. After 10-years of smoking, I quit cold turkey during the first week of September, 2008. I did not use the patch, gum, or any prescriptions, nor have I met a person who has successfully quit by using nicotine aides. I personally feel that the trick to quitting has to do with mentality. I have not done any research as to whether or not the patch, pill, or gum are actually effective at helping people quit. I am guessing they aren’t. It boils down to what you want out of life.
When I tell people I have quit, they usually ask me how. They always want a quick, effortless way to help them stop. They almost expect a button they can press that will make them quit. It doesn’t really happen like that. You have to want a lot from life for a good chance at quitting. Being successful has to do with how you see the world and what you want from it. If you don't want to make the most out of your life, then I feel that aides like the patch won't help you quit.
Although it is relatively easy, quitting can be difficult at times. There are points when you will be struggling. But I know you want to quit. I know you have that voice inside of you. I want to help you because it feels incredible to be nicotine free.
Please note that the words written in this book are my opinions. I am not responsible for how you interpret this information. Nor am I responsible for any actions you take regarding it.
Good luck conquering the world. I know you can do it. Keep your dreams alive.
- Marlow Doyle
~~~~Part I: Mental Aspects Essential to Quitting~~~~
~~~~Introduction~~~~
Michael Jordan, Alexander the Great, Gwen Stafani, Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, William Shakespeare, Albert Einstein, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Mead, Susan B. Anthony, Jane Austin, Helen Keller, Marilyn Monroe, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Tupac, Britney… All these people have accomplished many amazing things in a lifetime. And the fact is, they are not much different than you. You were meant to conquer the word and live your wildest dreams. I wouldn’t associate with anyone who tells you otherwise. It boils down to will power, and it’s in you. There’s a voice inside telling you to quit. Listen to that voice. And if the people I have just mentioned can accomplish truly wonderful things, than you can quit smoking. Once you quit, you can then start accomplishing your own marvelous goals. So whatever dreams you have, get ready to start chasing them down. It’s no coincidence that the famous people at the top of the charts are always saying you can do anything if you put your mind to it.
~~~~Facing the Music~~~~
In order to quit smoking, you need to face the facts. Although it is difficult to accept, you must embrace the following notion: Nicotine is a highly addictive drug, and you are addicted to it. From personal experience, I know that nicotine is dictating your life. It’s the first thing you do when you wake up, and it’s the last thing you do before you go to sleep. You smoke when you’re happy because it feels good, and you smoke when you’re sad because it makes you feel better. You will justify any excuse to have a smoke. You become irritable if you go a morning without a cig, and when that happens, lighting up is all you can think about. You need one after you eat to settle your stomach, and if you had to choose between a quick lunch or a cigarette, you would most likely choose a cig. Again… nicotine is a drug, and you are a drug addict.
The physical effects nicotine have on your body are devastating. Not only does it greatly increase your chance for heart disease and cancer, but it also effects your body in more subtle ways as well. If you are anything like I was or many other smokers I know, nicotine most likely suppresses your appetite. Because of this, you probably aren’t eating enough healthy food. Therefore, your body isn’t getting the proper nutrition it needs to thrive. After the morning cigarette, you don’t feel like eating a large breakfast. This leaves you hungry, irritable, lacking focus, and stressed out. As a result, you fill up on junk food and soda while smoking more cigarettes due to stress. Also, most smokers I know usually substitute sugared drinks for water thus leaving their bodies dehydrated. The cycle continues for lunch and dinner every day of your life.
Nicotine is classified as a stimulant. This means that it will make people feel wired. Consequently, you will have a difficult time getting enough sleep at night. So you wake up tired, stressed-out, hungry, irritable, unable to focus, and craving a smoke. Day in and day out you are running your body and soul into the ground, grinding out a torturous life minute by minute. Depriving your body of nutrition and sleep is asking for an early grave. By continuing to smoke, you are missing out on the quality life has to offer.
Despite the devastating effects smoking cigarettes creates, people still smoke them habitually. This is because they are addicted to a drug. I realize this may sound harsh to most people; however, realizing that I was addicted to a drug that was ruining my life was the first step towards successfully quitting.
~~~~The Hook~~~~
One thing to recognize that will increase your chances of quitting is that you are a different person now then when you became hooked. How old were you when you started smoking? I’m pretty sure I was sixteen. At that age, like everyone else, I desperately wanted to be cool. I thought smoking would make me stand out, and I associated with others who felt the same way. I also thought the world was very rough on me, as if I was the only person facing problems. Anytime things got tough or I got scared, I could always rely on a cigarette to make me feel better. I even thought they helped me relax and understand school work. Looking back, I realize I was basically a child when I started smoking. I suffered from low self-esteem and let other people hurt my feelings. When it came to problems I had to face, I was a scared little boy who wanted to run and hide. I had no real responsibilities. I was a naïve young man hooked on an addictive drug, and as soon as I turned eighteen, I was smoking a pack a day.
There are worse stories out there. More six-year-olds are addicted to nicotine than you think. I know from working in day-cares that there are many children who are exposed to second-hand smoke since they were conceived. These children grow up in houses where one or both parents smoke indoors, and even as babies, they breathe in nicotine on an hourly basis. It’s not uncommon for these kids to be smoking a pack of cigarettes every day by the time they are fifteen or sixteen-years-old. The reason why these children start smoking is unfair, and they have an incredibly tough time quitting. However, I believe they have the inner strength to quit. That’s why I am writing this book.
The point I am trying to make in this section is that many smokers become addicted to cigarettes at a very early age. It may not have been your choice to start in the first place. As you seek to grow and develop yourself to become stronger, it helps to realize you are a different person then when you first started smoking. You are strong now. You aren’t scared of challenges, and you don’t need cheap thrills like cigarettes to make you feel better.
A great exercise you can do to help you quit is ask yourself the following questions: How old were you when you started smoking?; Why did you start smoking?; Are you the same person as when you started smoking or are you different?; And in what ways are you different?
~~~~Part II: Quitting Tactics~~~~
~~~~Intrinsic Value~~~~
I feel that one of the most important things you can do to help quit smoking is to seek a job that offers intrinsic value. In other words, try to find a job that you love and makes you happy. The word intrinsic means inner or internal. Do not work a job just because of the money (extrinsic value) it offers. For instance, I decided to earn a degree in elementary education because I loved helping children learn. That was the motivation that guided me through four years of tests, essay papers, and field work. I didn’t care about the money I would make or the social recognition I would receive. I didn’t care about the holidays I would have off or the summer vacations. I wanted to be a teacher because it meant the world to me to help a youngster understand something. I wanted to help them as much as possible. Being a teacher was a dream of mine for a long time. It offered intrinsic joy.
The reason I think finding a job you love is important has to do with your health. If you love your job, you will want to be as healthy as possible so you can accomplish as much as possible. And by love I mean the job you dream of. You will realize how cigarettes are holding you back, and you will want to forget about them as quickly as possible. If you work a job you absolutely hate or could care less about, the urge to preserve your health may not be strong enough to resist the temptations of cigarettes on a daily basis. You may even be a successful worker making a ton of money at your present job. In that case, you have two options: Grind it out with a job that doesn’t offer much excitement, or pursue another career that offers you joy every single day of your life. In this crazy world one thing is for sure: The life you’re currently living will end. Don’t waste it thinking about what could be... even if you are a millionaire. Do what you need to do to get bye. If you have to take things very slowly going step by step, that's fine. Start paving a different path.
Another example of intrinsic value would be writing this book. I want to help people quit smoking. I find so much intrinsic value that I am sacrificing camping trips, movie nights, and professional baseball games to finish writing and publishing this book. I am even ignoring phone calls from friends. I am also making sure that I am staying as healthy as possible. That means eating a high calorie diet, sleeping eight-hours a night, and working-out every day. It feels so good to be nicotine free, and I want others to experience that feeling as well. If I could help one person quit smoking, it would provide me with an incredible amount of intrinsic joy. Start seeking things that make you happy.
~~~~The Voices in Your Head~~~~
When it comes to smoking cigarettes, you probably have two different voices in your head. One is saying: “Have a cig; it’s no big deal.” You probably hear this voice a lot. What the nicotine is doing is “faking out” your body and mind by pretending to relieve stress and anxiety when you smoke. When you hear this voice, it is essential that you think of it as the “nicotine voice.” When you hear it, say to yourself, “This is just the nicotine talking. I don’t need a cigarette.” The nicotine is playing a trick on your brain. It pretends to make you feel better when in reality it isn‘t. Your body doesn’t actually “feel” good after smoking. The nicotine is affecting your brain in a way that makes you think you enjoy smoking. That’s why it’s addictive. But it’s just tricking you. It also tells your brain that cigarettes taste good. That a bunch of bull! Cigarettes taste god-awful. If you want to know what a cigarette really tastes like, go lick an ashtray. You must realize that nicotine is playing tricks on you all the time. Many people who smoke die of lung cancer. They are not getting better from smoking. So when you hear the “nicotine voice,” just remember that it is the addictive substance playing a trick on your brain.
The other voice you hear is saying, “don’t smoke that cigarette. In fact, you need to quit all together. No more cigarettes.” I consider this to be the soul. The soul wants what’s best for you. Listen to your soul, always. Don’t ever betray it, for you will need your soul to conquer the world.
~~~~People Watching~~~~
After I graduated college, I took a job at a gas station to make ends meet (I smoked then). I probably saw about 300 customers a day. Many of them were there to buy cigarettes and beer. Day after day and customer after customer, I couldn’t help but notice that the people buying cigarettes usually smelled bad; looked grimy; had hair issues and gross skin; were effected by weight problems; lacked muscle; and had horrible teeth. Some of them had a tough time just walking, and there overall health seemed miserable. This wasn’t the case for every person buying cigarettes, but it was for many of them. And on the other side of the coin were people buying protein or health bars and water. Their appearance was usually quite the opposite of smokers. After a while, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized that if I kept smoking, I was on the track to becoming one of the gross customers I noticed everyday.
Please note that although many of these people were visually unappealing, that had nothing to do with their personalities. Most of them were very nice people (to me at least). How nice a person was had nothing to do with whether or not they smoked.
What I always suggest to people as a quitting tactic is to park your car right in front of a very busy gas station. Just stay in your car and watch people coming out of the store with cigarettes and beer. Look at them. Look at their greasy hair; nasty, dried up, flaky skin; and overweight, drooping bodies. Ask yourself if that’s what you want to be like in the future. These people are nasty looking because they are dying. They have given up and are letting an addictive drug completely destroy their life. They aren’t even putting up a fight. If you feel that cigarettes are destroying you, then realize this: YOU CAN QUIT! I SWEAR, IT'S NOT THAT HARD! I KNOW YOU CAN QUIT! EMBRACE LIFE! I BELIEVE IN YOU! Also, while watching people, don't pay attention to the younger smokers. Their bodies haven't been effected too much from smoking. Look for people at least in their 30s.
After working at the gas station, I noticed that when people are smoking, they usually are sitting down or standing still because they probably don’t have any energy. Most guys are scruffy, pale, and tired. Although it is difficult to tell if a woman is pale because of make-up, they too generally look “droopish” while smoking. Smokers look tired and rundown. You can’t enjoy life when you’re rundown. Look at people smoking every chance you get. Ask yourself if the look happy.
By the way, you can also do something similar to this if you are trying to quit fast food. Go to a fast food joint and sit down inside. Pick a spot close to a window where you can see the drive-thru. Most likely, about 90% of the people going through the drive-thru will be heavily over-weight. When you do this for about an hour everyday and see 100 or so overweight people, you start to associate fast food with weight problems. Those people aren’t far from a heart attack. Many of them too will die at an early age. They are robbing themselves of a long life.
I am not stating the “early grave” business lightly. I am very serious about this. For a period of time during college breaks, I worked as a landscaper. The company I worked for did some labor for a local cemetery. When you are in a cemetery for 10-hours-a-day, you can’t help but notice some things. One of those things was the lifespan on most tombstones. The average was around 50-years for men and about 60-years for women. Actually, I vividly remember that most men buried there only lived about 45-years. If you don’t believe me, go take a stroll through the nearest general cemetery (general as opposed to military).
~~~~Part III: Coping With A New Lifestyle~~~~
~~~~Environment & Support~~~~
Talk to people who have successfully quit smoking cigarettes. Ask them how they did it. Chances are, you will find that they quit cold turkey. I haven’t met anyone who has successfully quit otherwise. Most people I have talked to who have used the patch or gum or whatever else there is out there end up relapsing (start smoking again). You must surround yourself with people who have quit long-term. Otherwise, you will be surrounded by people saying things like, “I can’t quit. Screw it. I wish I could quit, but I’m too weak.” Those type of people are soft. They won’t help your cause at all. You’ll find yourself giving in to temptations of the “nicotine voice.” You need to be rock-solid.
With that being said, you are going to have an extremely tough time quitting if anyone in your home smokes. Not that it can’t be done, but it will be very difficult. There will always be the lingering smell of smoke to remind you of what you are missing. There will always be a cigarette box lying around tempting you to smoke. And worst of all, there probably will be second-hand smoke that you will breath. This will make it difficult to completely rid your body of nicotine. Thus you will ALWAYS be craving a cigarette.
I strongly recommend some kind of support group or mentor outside of your immediate family and friends. I personally subscribe to a man named Michael Marks. Originally, he was a dating adviser. He publishes material on how to start and develop romantic relationships with women. However, he now considers himself a personal excellence coach. Besides dating issues, he talks about the importance of living life to the fullest every second of the day. He constantly comments on the importance of accepting challenges and overcoming them rather than giving up because of failure. If you are a woman, than you probably want to seek a female motivational coach. They will most likely be more effective at helping you deal with woman issues. Obviously, if you are a man, then seek out a male coach. You want to find a supporter who drills the importance of overcoming challenges and obstacles despite failing and fear.
There are two really important things Michael Marks taught me that helped me quit smoking: Don’t listen to sad music, and don’t watch sad movies or television shows. When you listen to sad music, it will make you sad. If you are sad, you will want to be comforted. Ask yourself what songs you listen to on a regular basis. Are they songs about giving up and feeling hopeless? What you need to do is completely throw away all your depressing songs. Burn them all. Replace them with upbeat music. I immediately turn the radio off if I hear a lifeless song. Right now, the first four songs I listen to in the morning are “Bright Side of the Road,” by Van Morrison; “The Measure of a Man,” by Elton John; “Soul Man,” I forget by who; and “Fooling Yourself,” by Styx. All these songs are about not giving up and conquering challenges that lie ahead. Ask yourself what type of television shows and movies you watch. Are you a man who watches a sitcom that constantly makes fun of the leading male character? Are you a woman who watches a sitcom that makes fun of the leading female character? When you watch television or movies that insult humans day in and day out, it tends to effect you whether you realize it or not.
The point is that you need to filter out any media that degrades humans. Look for musical lyrics that are about conquering challenges. Watch movies that star a character who overcomes their problems despite horrific odds. You need to immerse yourself in an environment that promotes the idea of conquering challenges and overcoming adversity or difficulties. Doing so will greatly increase your chance of resisting the temptations of a cigarette while trying to quit. Surrounding yourself with strength will make you strong. I always recommend an ipod. The ability to make playlists are really convenient. You can make several different playlists. That way, you can have upbeat music all the time. You can have a "driving to work" playlist full of really upbeat songs to get you going, and you could also have a "driving home from work" playlist full of songs that are positive but mellow. Start building a library of movies and watch them all the time.
Finally, I want to tell you that if there is a person in your environment that is constantly abusing you verbally or physically, do what you need to do but then pack your bags and say goodbye to them forever. Remember, you only get one life. You should enjoy it. Don’t waste it being abused. There’s no need to be a victim.
~~~~The Rounds~~~~
Round one is what I consider the first five or six days of quitting. It’s going to be very difficult to not have a cigarette. You are going to feel the withdrawal of nicotine all throughout your body. This is what I mean by “craving.” You must listen to your soul. Do not listen to the nicotine voice, for it will be telling you all sorts of garbage abut how it’s okay to light one up. Be careful when it says you should reward yourself with a cigarette. Remember this is the nicotine talking, not you.
During round one, withdrawal will hit you like a ton of bricks. There will be cravings that seem to last forever. During the cravings, you will not be able to think of anything except having a cigarette. What you have to do is realize that these cravings will pass. They will eventually go away after a few minutes. They will occur frequently throughout the day, but they will eventually go away and happen less often. When you’re having a craving, try to think of something else. Try to daydream about being a superstar. Put a good movie on. Call a friend. Eat ice-cream. Try to forget about it. Before long, you will not be craving. Right around day five was the hardest for me. The withdrawals lasted about twenty minutes at a time, and they occurred all day long. But after day five, they happened less often and weren’t nearly as strong.
Here’s what not to do during round one: Don’t go to a bar. Too many people smoke at bars. You will be tempted. Don’t drink alcohol. People tend not to care about important things when they get drunk. Plus, for some reason, alcohol and cigarettes go hand in hand together. I wouldn’t drink booze for the first five months of quitting. If you get drunk or tipsy, you will be more likely to say, “screw it, give me a cig!” I actually recommend to stop drinking all together. Remember, alcohol is addictive, so if you drink it regularly you will have an alcohol voice telling you it’s okay to drink. For at least four months, don’t have your regular morning drink that you usually have with a cigarette; otherwise, you will want a cigarette with that beverage. Do not listen to sad music or watch sad movies, for you will want to comfort yourself with a smoke.
Round two is what I consider the fifth week of quitting (these times may very from person to person). You must be extremely cautious about the nicotine voice during this time. Because you haven’t had a cigarette in a month, your body starts to feel a lot better. You won’t be coughing as much. Your nose won’t be running. You will have been eating more food and sleeping regularly. Everything starts to feel real good. This is when people relapse and have a cigarette. You feel so good that the nicotine voice says something like, “Have a cigarette! Don’t worry, you aren’t addicted anymore. Look, you can have a cigarette. It’s all okay.” That happened to me, and I relapsed. I thought I could have just a couple. Eventually, I was hooked again. After a month of smoking, I started feeling the effects of cigarettes. I was congested. I couldn’t eat much food. I was drinking a lot of sugar. I had no energy etc. It took a few months for me to quit again. Don’t let round two dupe you.
For rounds one and two there is a tactic I will advise. I don’t like this idea, and it should be used very sparingly. The reason I don’t like it is because it is very dangerous. It is like playing with fire. If you find yourself craving like a crazy person, and you think you are going to give in, there is one thing you can do. Get a hold of a cigarette and put it in our mouth. Don’t light it but pretend to smoke. Go ahead and go through the motions of inhaling it. Again, I don’t like this idea, but it helped me get through a couple of really nasty cravings. But please be careful; having a loaded cigarette in your mouth can be deadly. While doing this, remind yourself not to listen to the nicotine voice.
Round three is what I consider the third month of quitting and anything after that time. It gets very easy not to have a cigarette. You only have a couple of cravings a day, and they are very weak cravings. Right around month six is when I finally realized that I wasn’t addicted to nicotine any longer. It’s such a beautiful feeling.
Until you are in round three, I would not suggest going on any car ride longer than a couple of hours.
I don’t think you will ever completely stop wanting a cigarette. The people who have quit for more than a few years all say the same thing: Cravings never go away. However, the withdrawals become weaker. It's not that big of a fight. I know you can win. Knock nicotine out forever!
~~~~Healthy Substitutes~~~~
I strongly recommend you start your new lifestyle by working-out five days a week. If you have children and don’t have time to go to the gym, consider investing in a home-gym and treadmill. If you do have time, then find a fitness center near you. You must make exercise a part of your life. Going now and then doesn’t cut it. It must be a lifestyle. Here are a few tips:
Calories are good for you, and carbohydrates are too. Don’t listen to the 0 carb/0 calorie diets. Calories are a measurement of energy, and you need energy to survive. Carbohydrates are a source of clean calories as opposed to fried food and saturated fat calories. You need to stay away from saturated fat as much as possible. Don’t eat fried food. When you eat fried food meals, you are usually consuming anywhere from about 3000 to 6000 calories per meal. The average person shouldn’t be consuming more than 3000 calories per day. That’s why people who eat fast food put on so much weight.
You
will want to do aerobic exercise three to five times per week. This
involves running, swimming, or biking. During these exercises, you
are continuously replenishing your muscles with oxygen. If you get
tired quickly, it’s because your muscles aren’t getting
adequate amounts of oxygen from your lungs. Let’s say you are
playing basketball. And three minutes into the game, you are huffing
and puffing and want to pass-out. Well, if you don’t do
cardiovascular workouts on a regular basis, your body is very bad at
moving oxygen from your lungs to your heart to your muscles. When you
do start to do cardio workouts regularly, your body becomes more
efficient at delivering oxygen to every single muscle in your body
(through the blood stream). Before, when you were out-of-shape, you
were only getting one oxygen cell per second to your muscles. Well,
now that you’re in shape, you’re getting four or five
oxygen cells per second (I made those numbers up, but you get the
point). Thus, your muscles don’t tire-out as easily.
In order to be healthy, you need to exercise aerobically three times a week for at least 30 minutes at a time. I shoot for at least five days a week. Go find your max heart rate for your age-group on the internet. The target heart rate should be 60% of your max heart rate. You shouldn't be doing more than 60% unless you are training professionally. Get one of the devices that measure your heart rate and use that when you are running (or any other aerobic exercise). To make this clear you want to be running at 60% of your max heart rate for 30 minutes at least three times a week.
You
will also want to do anaerobic exercises such as weight lifting.
During anaerobic exercise, you are depleting all the oxygen from your
muscles. When you lift, you are doing sets and repetitions. For every
set, you do so many repetitions. If you are working your chest, maybe
you bench press three sets of five repetitions. That means you’d
be bench pressing 15 times total. Now, when you’re on the last
repetition (rep), and you can’t push anymore for the life of
you, you have depleted all the oxygen from your chest muscles (well,
basically all of the oxygen). Anaerobic is fundamentally different
than aerobic. For aerobic, you are continuously supplying oxygen to
your muscles, and for anaerobic, you are depleting it all.
Without
oxygen, your muscles cramp up and don’t function. When you are
lifting (using resistance), you are actually ripping or tearing the
fibers of your muscles. Protein is used to rebuild the muscle. Hence
the reason weight lifters are always eating protein supplements. The
protein gets turned into a patch to seal those tears, but the patches
become part of the muscle as well. Thus, the muscle gets bigger and
can hold more blood and oxygen. Therefore, you develop more stamina
and get stronger and bigger.
You
want to do both anaerobic and aerobic exercises. You want your
muscles to get bigger and stronger, and you also want your body to be
able to efficiently deliver adequate amounts of oxygen to those
muscles.
If you're overweight, try three sets of 15 repetitions. That's called “low weight high repetition.” This will tone you up. Then you can bulk-up after you lose all that fat. If you want to bulk-up, do three sets of five repetitions. That’s called “high weight low reps.” Make a spread sheet and bring it with you to chart your progress. As for calibrating the weight, you want to be squeezing every ounce of energy to hit that last rep. If you're hitting that last rep with ease, you need more weight. If you're not coming close to that last rep, loose some weight.
There is a famous saying for exercise: No pain, no gain. You have to push yourself if you want results. If you want to be that amazing person that is deep inside of you, then you have to push yourself.
If
you are new to working-out, then I recommend not lifting much weight
for the first week or two. Just go through the motions. Don’t
push it. If you push it, you will be extremely sore. A lot of people
probably stop working-out because it can be too painful, and this is
almost understandable. It may affect their work or home-life. So
just take it easy the first time you workout a muscle group. The
following week, you can start to really lift a lot of weight.
Also
during the first one or two weeks of initial workout, you might want
to consider working-out two hours before bedtime. Soon after
exercise, you will become very, very tired and not be able to fight
off that grogginess. I mention this because it may affect your work
or home-life. I know many people stop exercising because of this. But
after the first or second week, I would recommend trying to exercise
first thing after you wake up. It will give you a lot of energy for
the day. It takes a lot of endurance to do a full workout and make
it through an entire day without being sleepy. Most people can’t
do both.
Here’s
another tip… GET YOUR YOU KNOW WHAT OUTTAH BED AND GET TO THE
GYM!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s funny because I can’t wait to go to
sleep because that means I get to wake up and workout!!! But when I
wake up, I just want to stay in bed. I have to roll over and fall to
the floor (no joke). But as soon as I’m in the gym and hit that
first rep, dang I feel good. So don’t listen to that voice that
tells you to stay in bed where it’s warm and comfortable, for
it is lying.
I must remind you that you need to make exercise a part of your life. Otherwise, you won’t benefit from what it offers. Please also remember that exercise is not about looks; it is about growing stronger and healthier. If you are going to conquer the world, you need to be strong, healthy, and fit. Always, always, always stretch out your muscles AFTER working-out. Always, always, always do a warm-up set with low weight.
I wish you the best of luck with your new lifestyle. I know you can do it. Quitting is easier than you think. Don’t listen or even be around people who say quitting is too hard. I have quit, and it isn’t that tough. Once you recognize that you are no longer addicted to nicotine, it gets very easy to stay cigarette free. Good luck conquering the world. Keep your dreams alive.
- Marlow Doyle