RE: I Quit SMOKING

Congratulations on your successful life-improvement decision! I was a long-time smoker too. I started out in my teens just like you, at the age of 17. Quitting was something I've tried many times in the past and the longest one was around two years.

Then I got employed in my first job in animation, and the sudden change of status from being a flat broke college dropout, to earning a decent salary every month, enabled me to indulge in many things again. I could now afford to go places and hang out and get drunk with my colleagues on Friday nights after work.

And of course, drinking and smoking go hand in hand, so the ugly vice made a comeback. Fast forward to 2017, the big animation studio I was working at closed because of money problems. So I ended up doing remote jobs to be able to keep paying the rent and bills.

But my remote work at the time was not stable, so I thought of quitting smoking again because cigarettes had gotten ridiculously expensive over here at the time, thanks to our dictator president who hated smoking and banned it in public places, even in open air bars.

That's when I decided to quit the habit for good. I knew it was going to be difficult because even though I had a remote job, it wasn't stable yet, and things got really stressful at times. And when you're stressed out, you tend to chain smoke.

So, from that point on in 2018 until the next year, I gave it my best effort. And by mid-2019 I was finally free of the habit for good! And my timing to quit couldn't have been better, as it allowed my lungs to heal and be clean, before the start of the pandemic in the following year.

And I have remained smoke-free ever since. So, good luck to those who are also on their journey to quit. I wish them all to be as successful as you and I are.