I'm so excited to share this journey because it has always been something I was "branded with". I started smoking a few years after I began my journey in the corporate world. I was working in the BPO industry then and didn't know a lot about handling my own stress. It started with a stick and rapidly--a pack. I've been a heavy smoker ever since. I could easily consumer 3 sticks on my 15 minute break, that's how stressful the job was. It didn't help that my team of trainers loved frequenting Starbucks during lunch and we'd waste away an entire hour just smoking and drinking coffee. That didn't stop after I left the office. When I'd go out drinking, I'd smoke more because it just felt right the perfect combination for me. To be honest, I wasn't very sensitive of the non-smokers around me. I mean yes I'd distance myself, but it was until I stopped smoking that I realized simply distancing myself doesn't really do the job. 

So, that's my story. Fast forward to 9yrs later and on a whim, I finally decided to quit. Yes it was a conscious decision but it wasn't planned at all. Prior to making the decision,  I was drinking from 11AM until the wee hours of the night. I had smoked 3 packs of cigarettes and bought one more before going home because I always feared running out of something to smoke. When I woke up in the morning, I wasn't hung over but my mouth felt all sore from all the smoking I did prior. It was a long weekend and I decided to just stay at home for 4 days which concurrently led to me not smoking for 4 days too. I thought, this was a great start and proceeded to do so until today--my 6th month as a non-smoker. I won't bore you with text details since I'm attaching a video of my journey anyway. But in a nutshell, food was my recluse while I was trying to cope with the oral fixation. I've put in a lot of information on this video and I hope it does help you if you're planning on quitting smoking. The journey was extremely difficult but I made it! And you can too. Hope this video helps.