I Want a Parade

Did you ever notice that people are quick to comment when you are making a mistake or doing something bad but seldom praise you for the good you do?  If I can not commit an error without having it pointed out, then I want recognition for every good thing I do.  I know that is totally unrealistic to expect and terribly selfish, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting it.

I quit smoking.

On January 17th of this year I smoked my last cigarette.  It’s been over six weeks and I have yet to come home to a house full of balloons, cake, and congratulatory banners.  What is up with that?  People are spending millions of dollars a year on smoking cessation programs, community anti-smoking education, and advertising that is constantly shoved on smokers telling them that they are idiots if they continue down such a devastating path toward death.  Quitting a bad habit like that is not easy.  I struggled for years to quit and felt so proud of myself as I passed the dreaded three-week mark that in the past has led to a relapse.  Friends and family harassed me for years about my “filthy habit”.  Even strangers would  comment by beginning an exaggerated cough as soon as they spotted a cigarette in my hand.  Even if it was not yet lit.

I consider myself a non-smoker now.  I know it hasn’t been that long, but I am not turning back.  It is hard to carry out a task that difficult and receive no accolades.  I feel like the only reason people paid attention to my habit, and to me, was to make me do what they wanted.  As soon as I stopped smoking, they won and no longer needed to attend to me to press their views upon my apparently susceptible mind.  Don’t get me wrong; I am very happy to no longer depend upon cigarettes that are proven to shorten not only people’s lives but the quality of it.

I suppose no one is my greater critic than myself.  I’ll just have to encourage myself as a cheerleader as well.  Have you done something you think merits a parade?  Maybe we can can have one together.