Liesl Brooks, Quit Tobacco Health Hero

Picking up the habit

Liesl had her first cigarette with friends while walking home from junior high, then starting smoking regularly in high school. “At first I smoked before and after school, but by my senior year I would leave campus to smoke – and we had a closed campus. That’s when I knew I was addicted.”

At first, Liesl smoked about 10 cigarettes a day. As she got older and started to work she was able to pay for cigarettes herself and she progressively smoked more. By the time Liesl quit smoking six months ago, she was smoking a pack a day.

Liesl estimates she has avoided 4,000 cigarettes and saved $1,500 since quitting. “That’s a lot of cigarettes – and a lot of money.”

Quit attempts

Liesl always found excuses to smoke and reasons to put off quitting. She tried to ignore that cigarettes were negatively affecting her health.

“It happens slowly, but as you get older your body doesn’t recover as quickly as it did when you were younger.” Liesl noticed that she was coughing more frequently and would periodically lose her voice. “And head colds started turning into bronchitis because I was a smoker. But I wasn’t ready to give cigarettes up. My life revolved around smoking.”

Liesl went through several quit attempts before finally quitting for good. “They were usually a 24-hour thing. I’d have my last cigarette before bed, and then I’d wake up angry, panicky and anxious. Something stressful would happen during the day and then I would end up having a cigarette that evening.”

At the time, the short-lived quit attempts felt like failures. But Liesl’s physician’s assistant at Group Health helped reframe these thoughts, “She was very supportive and told me that the attempts weren’t failures – they were stepping stones.”

Quitting for good

Liesl knew she was close to being ready to quit for good, but the final motivation came from her six-year-old son. “He talked about smoking cigarettes and how they’re bad for you…about dying. Somehow he had this information that I didn’t want him to know about.”

Liesl had watched her grandma die from emphysema and didn’t want her family to go through that. “When you are a mom you have responsibilities. It’s not just about you anymore. I want to be there for my kids.”

After 20 years of smoking Liesl was done making excuses. Liesl met with her doctor, picked a quit date, and decided to use Chantix – a non-nicotine prescription medicine that helps people quit smoking. “This was my first true attempt where it lasted more than a week – and I knew it was going to last. This was the one.”

Support systems

Liesl has embraced the support of her family, friends and co-workers. A Metro operator for 10 years, Liesl says her fellow bus drivers have been very supportive. “They congratulate me for quitting – give me thumbs up – and nobody smokes around me.”

Some co-workers talk to her about their plans to quit, stories of quitting, or attempted quits. Liesl’s husband, also a cigarette smoker, was supportive but didn’t quit when she did. “He wasn’t ready. You have to know when it’s your time. He was respectful and didn’t smoke around me and I was respectful and didn’t nag him to quit.”

Liesl’s husband has since quit smoking, and is now one month smoke-free. And Liesl’s older sister is also planning to quit. “She, too, had to wait for her time. Her quit date is later this month. I’m excited for her. I think my success has been an inspiration to her.”

Six months smoke free and empowered

Now six months smoke-free, Liesl admits that deciding to quit smoking was very emotional. “It’s like losing a friend in a way. Smoking was a big part of my life for 20 years – demanding, time consuming. Once you claim yourself back you feel empowered and proud.”

Liesl learned to find the positives in quitting, rather than thinking of what she had to lose. “I was spending one and a half hours a day smoking. Now I have all this time on my hands to get chores done and have ‘me’ time.”

Liesl used to feel anxious when she thought about quitting smoking, but has actually found that she is less stressed now that she’s quit. “I used to smoke because I thought I was relieving stress; but now I realize that smoking was causing stress and anxiety. I was always worrying about when I’d get to smoke; or about missing a smoke break at work.”

Instead of smoking, Liesl now enjoys walking, swimming, hiking with her family, reading and singing.  The Brooks family just spent a week doing day hikes around Mt. Rainier.  “I deal with stress now rather than masking it with a smoke break.”

Tips from Liesl

Advice from Liesl to other county employees considering quitting tobacco:

• Know when it’s your time to quit. You have to be ready.
• Talk to your physician, research available resources, and find what works for you. Liesl chose Chantix, but she acknowledged that other options such as nicotine replacement can be a better fit for others.   
• Have support systems in place. Tell your co-workers, friends and family that you’re quitting so they can support your efforts.
• Find the positive. Think about what you’re gaining by quitting, rather than about what you’ll lose.