The hardest New Year’s resolution: Butting out for good

Every year, thousands of people in Saskatchewan attempt to start the new year right by kicking what many consider to be a nasty habit.

Quitting smoking usually tops the list of lofty New Year’s resolutions that becomes too ambitious over time.

Kayli Pavelko smoked for more than 10 years — between the ages of 13 and 23.

“I was in university at the time, and I just hated (smoking),” she said. “It wasn’t something that I enjoyed, so at least I had that going for me.”

Pavelko stayed smoke-free for 10 years after that period, but quickly returned to the routine after her mother died of cancer. During the grieving process, she struggled with a variety of addictions over a three-year period until she became pregnant.

“Luckily, with that, smoking made me physically sick to my stomach,” Pavelko said.

Intermittently smoking after the birth of her daughter, Pavelko decided it was time to put an end to her worst habit once and for all.

She saw an advertisement from The Canadian Cancer Society Smokers’ Helpline to enter a draw if she stayed smoke-free for the first week of the month. She entered and won $500.

“That was all the reassurance that I needed in order to understand that I was on the right track and that was the right thing for me to do.”

Now all Pavelko needs to do is draw on her past experiences to avoid cigarettes.

“A driving force in me was longevity,” she said. “I don’t want that to be my end. I want to be happy, I want to be healthy, I want to be around for my daughter when she’s in her twenties.”

“You got to make a decision and once you do it, you got to stick with it.”

Pavelko said she believed in tricking herself out of the craving as a way of overcoming her smoking habits, like vacuuming the house instead of reaching for her lighter and then cleaning the dishes the next time the craving struck.

“I kept putting it off like that until that craving was done,” Pavelko said. “All you got to do is make it through that little five or ten minute craving, and then you can hold off until the next one.”

“As soon as you have something that causes you a bit of anxiety or upsets you, or something like that, that’s what you want to go to — you want to run to that,” she said. “If you’re going to quit smoking and you’re going to be successful, you’ll have to replace that with something else.”

Now that she remains smoke-free, her focus is on staying healthy for her daughter.

“I want to be here for her, I want to be everything that she needs. It was do or die for me.”

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker.