I did not smoke yesterday. I will not smoke JUST today.

[Th1onein]

I made it through yesterday. Today is the thirteenth day without cigarettes. Unbelievable.

I am still hacking and coughing a bit in the mornings, but very little. It seems so strange to not choke every morning. I have heard of people missing that morning cigarette, most of all, but I don't.

I really thought that I would have cheated by now, but just smelling them on my co-workers is enough to turn my stomach. Now, let me go and hunt a co-worker down, so I can get a whiff.

[glowing]

1. When I've quit before, that was the worst.. I could smell cig smoke a mile away.

A car two or three cars away with window open at a stop light.

[Th1onein]

6. I was standing in line next to a smoker in Walgreen's.

It was STRONG, that smell. And, you know, it STINKS. I never really realized that until I quit.

[gblady]

2. congrats....

on making it through yesterday...
sounded like a huge urge that you worked through...

that, IMHO, is what it takes to quit...
make it through each urge as it comes up...

soon, they become less and less...
although at times, even later on, a big one can really be tempting...

just keep pushing, or relaxing, or whatever helps...
until it passes...because it always will pass.

and soon....you'll be free!

[wellstone dem]

3. You are amazing.

Keep it up, just for today.

[rurallib]

4. Just so you don't try to light up a co-worker

that may be frowned on.

[Th1onein]

5. I'm the boss. I COMMAND them to go outside and smoke.

Here's the boss, asking people to please go outside and smoke so I can smell it and remember why I quit. Crazy.

[watrwefitinfor]

7. That is exactly how I did it.

And I've been without a single puff since Thanksgiving day, 2001. If a weakminded old broad who smoked for 50 years can do it, chain smoking for the last ten or so of those, then I know you can. :hi:

I still have an occasional moment when the urge hits me so bad - but you know, it passes just as quickly. And as a wise person told me once, ANYONE can do without a cigarette for ten minutes.

Hang in there.

Wat

[flamin lib]

8. Good work so far. Just one bit of advice . . .

The urge to smoke will go away in five minutes. You can stand on your head for five minutes.

If, on the other hand, you cheat with only one cigarette you will start over from day one.

Really. From day one. Like pushing the re-set button on addiction.

Quitting is easy. Staying quit is not, at least for the first two years.

It is the best thing you can do for yourself. Don't cheat. Not even once.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Let me second that.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. I quit 24 years ago. It was one of the hardest things, and one of the best things,

I have ever done.

As it happened, I had some time on my hands when I did it, so on the morning I quit I decided to go for a walk in the hilly country where I then lived, just to get myself away from easy access to my dreaded drug. I discovered that I could walk much further than I used to, so I kept going. I later figured out that this first burst of energy was due to my body having cleared itself of its chronic carbon monoxide load, thereby giving my hemoglobin a significant boost in oxygen carrying capacity. Also, the walking caused my body to increase its endorphin production. Part of your cigarette addiction is actually an endorphin addiction, so exercise causes your body to produce endorphins without the cigarettes.

I started riding my old clunker bicycle a lot, and shortly bought myself a new 12-speed, which I started riding obsessively.

Another thing I discovered was that I didn't have a smoking habit. What I actually had was a thousand little smoking habits. The first-one-in the-morning habit. The cig-with-coffee habit. The reach-for-one-while-answering-the-phone habit. The light-up-in-the-car habit, the what-do-I-do-with-my-hands habit, etc. I had to invent a strategy to combat each of these habits.

I remember following smokers down the street, trying to get a couple of whiffs. Over time, though, cigarette smoke became more repulsive. Now I get annoyed at the slightest trace of cigarette smoke. There is nobody on earth who is quite as self-righteous as an ex-smoker.

[uppityperson]

11. yay! Congratulations!

and hugs to you

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

12. That's when I turned the corner.

When the smell started making me feel sick, I was over them. Hope you are almost there good luck.

David

[old mark]

13. I remember whan I first quit - someone near me just finished smoking a butt

and came over and talked to me - I thought I would puke. I also remember opening a closet with winter coats in it from the last time I had smoked, and I could smell the old smoke in them. Just terrible.

You are doing it right. It will take time, but if you start again you will somedau heve to do this all over again. Use this hard time to realise how addicting cigarettes really are and be determined to beat them - get pissed. Remember these tobacco people are killing you for money.

Put the money you would have spent on cigarettes every week away and buy yourself a nice present after the first year.

Good luck - it will get better and you are winning.

mark (18 years smoke free last March)