Ovida’s caring and empathetic nature make her an excellent mentor who is always ready to offer support and encouragement. You may also know Ovida from her uplifting and inspiring post on our Facebook page.
Ovida started smoking when she was 15. She quit a few times while pregnant but always went back to smoking afterwards. This time she wanted to quit for herself and with the help of Truequit, she found the emotional, mental and physical support she needed to give up cigarettes for good. She now celebrates 7 months as a non-smoker.
Deborah: Welcome to True Quit Testimonial Stories. And today I have with me, Ovida. And Ovida has been with the programme for a while. And today she’s is going to share with us her story. And welcome, Ovida. So nice to have you here.
Ovida: Thank you. It’s great to be on.
Deborah: Here you go, Vida.
Ovida: I’ve always everything about true quit. It’s been great. And every time it’s been on, I’ve come on, Zoom. There’s always been something positive coming up from it. I hope this goes well.
Deborah: Fine. I would love to hear a little bit about your quit smoking journey. First of all, about your smoking story.
Ovida: Well, I started smoking when I was approximately 15 because it was cool. You could hold a cigarette and you could look like one of those famous ladies with it. And I used to go down when I was a child, I used to go down and buy the cigarettes for mom and dad to the shops. That was normal, you know, it was just ten years old and we were buying cigarettes for mom and dad. And by the time I was 17 and working, I was a fulltime smoker and I stopped three times in my life, every time I got pregnant, I just quit. I stopped. I found out I was pregnant and I quit. But that was for the baby’s sake. As soon as I had the baby, that was my willpower just faded. So I needed something more, but I couldn’t find it. And the last time I gave up smoking was 25 years ago for a year. And then I saw True Quit and there was an invitation to a webinar and I put my name down for it, panicked and gave up. I avoided the webinar. And then I thought, I’ve got to do this.
I’ve got to do this. I want to do this. So I saw another webinar, went there and went on it. And that’s when I began True Quit and I couldn’t get enough of it. I was watching the videos and then re watching the videos and loving everyone because it taught me things. It didn’t just say you have to give up or this is what you use and give up. It taught me things. It taught me emotional. It gave me emotional support, physical support, mental. It was all together. It was all wrapped in one. And it did a lot for me.
Deborah: How long were you with the programme for?
Ovida: I’m not exactly sure of the dates. I know that my quit date was three weeks prior to so that would have been September. That would have been 1 September. And then on the 15 September, I had a bad emotional crack and I smoked a pack of cigarettes. So that was last year. But since then I’ve not smoked. Wow!
Deborah: How long have you not smoked for?
Ovida: So that’s 29 weeks. So that would be nearly seven months.
Deborah: Wow. Fantastic. Congratulations!
Ovida: It doesn’t seem real. And I still look back and I watch the Q&A stories and I still go to the Q&A meetings. Not every week, but I still go and it’s great to see people that are making a difference in their life. It’s great to see their stories and hear it.
Deborah: That sounds fantastic. Has it filtered in other areas of your life now that you’re a non smoker?
Ovida: Yes, absolutely. My personal staff assurance, not self esteem. It’s more my feeling good about myself. I don’t feel ashamed when I talk to somebody where I did before Because I know that they could smell my cigarette breath and it was terrible. I’ve actually used it, the technique in other areas in my dieting, I’ve used it. And with things like going to the dentist, I have a great fear of the dentist, but I used the technique, the physical and mental and it gave me relief. It actually helped. So that was great. That was going out in public. I’m not going to be hurt. There’s nothing to fear. And I went through the whole thing in my mind and it was great. It’s so helpful in so many ways.
Deborah: It is so good to hear. I’m really pleased.
Ovida: I think the one thing I found, too, Is trying to get other people to stop smoking Is my biggest thing now. I saw a young boy, he was smoking and he looked at me and he looked guilty. He was only a teenager and I felt like going up to him and going, don’t smoke. But I thought if I go up to him and say that he would immediately go, I don’t care what you say, but so many people, they don’t have to smoke. It’s better not to, but they don’t see it.
Deborah: Hopefully for you that you have found your thing and that you’ve been cigarette free for seven months. That is fantastic. And that is helping you in other areas of your life. That is just wonderful to hear. It sounds like you’re doing really well. The method works for you and that is fantastic. It’s really good. I really appreciate you taking your time to share your story with us. It’s a wonderful story.
Ovida: You’re welcome. Because I’m so cynical when it comes to things like this and this true quit has been a true quit. It was like I’ve still got things written around in my house to help me, just to give me positive things about it, Because it truly worked.
Deborah: But thank you so much. Ovida.
Ovida: Thank you.
Deborah: Thank you.