Nicotine is an incredibly powerful drug. I am smoke-free for 33 years now. I was in a play 10 years ago and the director decided he wanted my character to smoke a cigarette. I told him I no longer smoke. He said I didn’t have to inhale. I told him that without sounding too “dramatic” ~ I would rather leave the play. He relented. Congrats to my friend who is 100 days free of addiction-and-death inducing cigarette manufacturers and marketers!

Like Mark Twain said: Quitting smoking is easy… I  should know… I have done it a hundred times.

What  finally, finally made the difference to me was feeling manipulated by Madison Avenue advertising and marketing firms with highly-paid executives and creative teams whose schemes I was not equipped to stand up against. Feeling like a pawn in some legalized drug dealer’s game incensed me! I became willing to suffer a very painful physical and psychological  period of prolonged withdrawal (followed by a brownie-eating binge that passed after two days).

Kicking nicotine addiction was literally the hardest battle I have ever fought. But it was also the one most worth it.

This post is inspired by a friend who is celebrating her 100th day without nicotine.