I started this site as a way of keeping in touch with friends back home and it quickly became an outlet for me. A forum to be heard on those days I felt invisible as a stranger in a strange place. Living in a foreign country is not an easy venture and this blog helped so much through the really hard times. That being said, lately I haven't been keeping up with it because I've been feeling low the last couple of months and I felt like there was no need to be writing 'woe is me' entries all of the time. But during the last couple of months, a wonderful thing started happening - I started receiving emails and comments from people offering heartfelt well wishes, support and friendship . The best of the correspondence I've received have been the ones that have said 'thank you for making me feel like I'm not alone in how I'm feeling' or simply, 'thank you for making me feel less alone today'. Receiving emails and comments like those really mean the world to me because it makes me feel like I'm doing a good thing for people and it also makes me feel less alone and validates all I've been going through too. So thanks so much for the special people that have contacted me and have helped so much during this difficult time. I know it won't always be this hard, but it really helps to know there are people out there who know what I'm going through and are willing to listen when I need to be heard. 
I quit smoking when I moved to the UK, mainly because I promised my husband I would. I did it for him, but not because I wanted to. I enjoyed smoking. I missed it, but quit successfully for many years until I went through a stressful time and started again. My relapse lasted over a year. The whole time, I was ashamed of myself. I hated the smell. I hated how I felt, I hated the health risks and I hated my lack of willpower. I've known a few people who have tried e-cigarettes. I was a skeptic. I thought it was going from one habit to another. The people I knew that tried it, always had it and were constantly sucking on it. It seemed to me they were more addicted to it then they were cigarettes. I don't know any smokers that constantly had a cigarette in their hand. Then in January, I saw a piece about it on the BBC News. I watched with interest thinking they were going to say that they have found it to be harmful. What they said was quite the o
Comments