11 years smoke free

[Steve71]

Today is an anniversary for me. Today makes 11 years since I finally put down the cigarettes and became a 100% smoke free person. One of the best choices I ever made for my health
Wasn't easy to do for sure. I was a pack of menthol per day smoker and tried every way out there to try to quite. Tried to quit probably over 100 times before I ever was able to do it. Finally one day I got up and went outside for my morning cigarette, put it in my mouth and I remember very clearly thinking ..."Why am I still doing this". I never lit that one and tossed the rest of that pack in the trash, and stopped cold turkey. That was 11 years ago.
So if you are trying to quit, or want to quit, you CAN do it. Trust me if I can do it then anyone can!

[Dadio]

Well done ! Not easy , I quit hand rolling over 12 years ago , like you it took several attempts , I think what clinched it for me was my friends mum dieing of bone cancer , bones just turned to egg shell , gave me the fear to do it , don't even think about it anymore but I wish my wife could quit , you have to do it for yourself though so I don't nag .

[GoMachV]

Congrats! That’s great!

[R6cowboy]

I'd absolutely really want to quit. Even being a "part-time" smoker, it's hard. Part time meaning, I typically have 0-2 cigarettes a day, but smoke like chimney while drinking occasionally.

Well done Steve

[TRX-1-3]

STEVE! Nice.

[jwscab]

Congrats. It's terribly difficult, great job!

[TRX-1-3]

I'd absolutely really want to quit. Even being a "part-time" smoker, it's hard. Part time meaning, I typically have 0-2 cigarettes a day, but smoke like chimney while drinking occasionally.

Well done Steve

Dude, we're all human! I've heard it gets easier to every time you decide to. I am still just currently a nicotine "enthusiast". Started with dip, then ciggies then both, then dip, then cigs, then I kicked cigs for going on two 2+ yaers now. But still do the tobacco derived non-tobacco nicotine pouches. It's straight poison, but some say/believe nicotine is no more harmful than caffeine as a vasoconstrictor/blood pressure raiser.....it's still gonna enlarge your heart and increase potential for hypertension and stroke (insert THUMB's "stroke joke" here), but it's the delivery method that compounds the issue. Nicotine gum, the patch, etc. can all be considered as addiction transference if you don't have a realistic plan for grabbing the demon by the horns and engaging in mortal combat with it. I sound like a nicotine lobbyist and that is not my intention. I guess I'm trying to say we all have our reasons for doing or not and we are the only ones that have power over ourselves in that regard. We (we know who we are) should start "Steveing" immediately. It's been weighing on me quite a bit recently. I think cold turkey is the way to go. And with any of these pesky habits, the more distance you can gain on them, the easier it gets to move past them.

I really haven't given it much thought though..

And I've said too much.

[TRX-1-3]

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[TokyoProf]

Hey Steve,

Congrats on quitting smoking! mDad went cold turkey just like you 20 years ago. Glad you are not giving money to the cigarette companies anymore! I just checked but 9 bucks for a pack of smoke here dang! That is 63 bucks per week you can use for a different "healthy habit" like buying an rc10 (lol) or dollar-cost averaging buying some stock of a good company (or bitcoin or gold) you get the point. Most importantly, that is a big-time upgrade toward focusing on your health (and those around you)!

[Halgar]

Congrats!

I quit smoking in '96 after about 12-13 years. Came back to it for a few months in '14 and have been smoke free since. Both times was cold turkey. The first time was definitely the hardest, not because I was addicted to the nicotine, but the ritual of smoking and the trappings around it. By that I mean you get into habits when smoking and/or doing other things that you associate with smoking, such as taking breaks at work or while social drinking.

For me the difficulty wasn't quitting, there are all kinds of events that one correlates with lighting up. Breaking that conditioning is what's hard. Relearning how to take a break or have a drink without a cig, or the myriad of other events we associate smoking with, that is the hard part.