I’m Still Alive Because I Traded COPD for CPD.

On June 5, 1979, I was on track for COPD – chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 

I had been a serious smoker for 18 years. I’m talking 2-packs-a-day in Marlboro country for nearly two decades.

On June 6, 1979, I jumped off that track and opted, instead, for CPD – continuous personal development.

A cigarette or cigar has not touched my lips since.

Had I not jumped, I don’t believe I would be writing this today, at 80, having just completed a brisk 30-minute walk and a touch of strength training in my office with my adjustable kettlebell and exercise bands.

Between 6/6/79 and today, I watched my father and an uncle die of COPD.  I am now witnessing its devastation play out with my sister.

All were multi-decade smokers.

Slow, creeping, irreversible suffocation is at the absolute bottom of the list of the ways I want to leave this planet.

We didn’t know better.

My formative years were in rural southeast Wyoming. In the 1940s and 1950s, smoking was not only accepted but it was also touted as healthy by doctors, dentists, actors.

I remember an ad for Lucky Strikes showing wounded veterans from the Korean War in a hospital ward smoking with the message that Luckies were an important part of their recovery.

Demonstrating a heavy dose of hypocrisy and naivete during high school, I would only smoke during the summer and not during school because of athletics. Deep down, I knew it wasn’t good.

But it was cool back then. And cool, as an adolescent, was important – just as it is today.

We didn’t know better, I guess. It was 1964 before the Surgeon General issued a general report citing health risks associated with smoking and 34 more years of denial and stonewalling by the tobacco industry before they admitted culpability and ponied up a $264 billion “settlement.”

It was hard, hard, hard!

If you’ve been a smoker, you know how hard it is to quit.

It took enrollment in an 8-week program called SmokeEnders (now offered online) for me to quit – along with the ever-present and openly expressed concern from my wife and two elementary school-aged children.

I remember that nearly half the SmokeEnders class of 40 had some level of emphysema and were there on doctor’s orders. Very few of these extreme cases were able to quit and most dropped out.

But, I was ready. I had already started running and knew that this had to happen. The class was the catalyst for me. And helped launch me into a four-decade Continuous Personal Development (CPD) process.

CPD is a big bucket.

6/6/1979 kickstarted an evolutionary process of personal development that continues today. What started as smoking cessation and an increase in physical activity has evolved into a deep commitment to continuous mental, physical, social, and spiritual growth.

I’ll offer up a few things I’ve learned on this non-stop journey:

Takeaway #1:

It’s never too late to start to improve; it’s always too early to quit.

CPD is age-independent. I push myself at each workout. I’m striving to get better every day at my writing. I still read a book a week and have for over 15 years. I’m learning that not knowing is more important than whatever I do know and that I’ll always be behind.

Takeaway #2:

With very few exceptions, we are born with a birthright of health and bodies and minds with amazing resilience and recuperative powers.

Just as my lungs returned to normal after 15 years, nearly all of the parts of this magnificent collection of cells will recuperate from mistreatment or accident when given the right tools. Collectively, we’re not very good at knowing what those tools are, or, if we do, we fail to use them.

Takeaway #3:

Culture is not our friend.

We’re persuaded to compare and seek comfort, convenience, and quick fixes. We choose a Snapchat/Instagram world where comparison sneaks in to rob us of joy. We are drawn away from our natural selves and give up our individuality in order to conform.

Takeway #4

We’re on our own to protect our birthright of physical and mental health.

A healthcare system that can’t/won’t spell prevention. A food industry that delights in our naivete and in destroying our livers and pancreases. A pharmaceutical industry that rides profitably on the backs of both. An entertainment industry that dulls our brains and steals 5+ hours of our time daily with mountains of drivel. All foes of CPD.

CPD is hard too.

CPD isn’t convenient. It’s often uncomfortable. It’s easy to abandon.

I had trouble giving up the Marlboro’s because there was a strong physical addiction as well as deeply ingrained habit patterns.

My goal is to strive to entrench my CPD in the same way while I give thanks that it stepped in for the COPD.

Do you have a 6/6/1979 in your story? Tell us about it. Leave a comment below for others to see. We’d love to hear from you on this topic.