#QuitStories Britney's Story

I was 12 years old or so when I first was exposed to smoking, and by the time I was 14 I had basically become half a pack a day, continuous, everyday smoker. I was diagnosed with asthma at 5 years old and it was severe enough that I could not run and was given notes to be exempt from physical fitness class at school. Once I became a regular smoker, I started getting symptoms of chronic bronchitis and chronic upper respiratory issues and there were periods of time that I was getting pneumonia once a year. 

I would say I first got the idea in my head to really want to quit smoking watching my grandmother die of lung cancer.

I knew that would be my path later in life if I didn't do something about my smoking. But watching her almost lead me the opposite direction, I was so stressed out and so upset dealing with her illness that I didn't feel like I was able to quit at that time. None of that was enough. I guess I wasn't personally ready yet or I was young enough that I didn't think that it was going to affect me.

Later as a young adult, the moment that I really knew that I was done with smoking was when my 2-year-old said "Oh, momma, you're gross, why do you have to do that? That's yucky." 

I was planning on having another child and I just kind of knew that I couldn't smoke anymore. I didn't want them to remember me as a smoker or thinking it was ok to smoke.

So, that year, on January 17, I smoked my last cigarette and on January 23, my pregnancy test was positive. He was the best reason why I quit smoking.