“When you catch a glimpse of your potential, that’s when passion is born.”
~ Zig Ziglar
I smoked two packs every day for 20 years. I quit July 11, 2000. The only lasting effect I seemed to have was exercise induced asthma. My voice has been doing odd things the last few years, from unprovoked bouts of hoarseness to complete laryngitis. Not long ago someone described me as ‘soft spoken’. My grandmother was soft spoken, not me. When I heard a recording of myself during a recent panel discussion, I realized they were right. I was soft spoken, and it wasn’t normal. I think I’m always going to be uneasy about some things because I smoked so much for so long. This was one of those things. Today I saw Laryngologist Dr. Sanford Archer and Speech Pathologist Rebecca Hancock. I’ve got what I call old lady vocal cords. They don’t close completely (hoarseness), so when the surrounding muscles work overtime to help, they get tired (soft spoken). I’m young for this, and that may or may not be due to smoking, but it’s something I can fix through speech therapy. When I asked how I looked for an ex-smoker, you should have seen the smiles. “You look incredible,” Rebecca exclaimed. If that’s not a blessed day, I don’t know what is.
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