The First Whole Week

That's it, I've completed the first week and I can hardly believe I've done it. After all the previous failed attempts, the Will Power Failures the Nicotine Replacement Failures this time I've done it. Feel great, feel more alive, been a hell of a lot busier this week too, got so much more energy than before. The key I think this time is no aggravated craving from trying the willpower method and no continuous addiction from nicotine replacement. This is not to say that I am not suffering the odd nicotine craving, I am but I am much more equipped to deal with them this time, I can see them for what they really are, an irritation that will soon end. Looking forward to the next week!

Approaching the Revelation

A few days from the quitting event and already my life has started to feel different. I have been more active, feeling more aware of others and things around me. I am no longer timing visits to the garden to relieve my addiction, no longer thinking about the next cigarette, the old "well I'll just nip for a fag first" syndrome has left me....and it feels wonderful. The fear has left me, you smokers know the one, the one that creeps up on you and fills you with horror when you look into your cigarette packet and there are only two of the evil little swine left, MY GOD where is the nearest shop / supermarket / garage / off-licence .... what time do they shut? OH SHIT!!! The calm that you are left with when this fear is over is exhilarating, satisfying and leaves you approaching the revelation that you are a non-smoker.

The Smoker and The Excuse

That was me, the smoker, full of every reason I could think to justify my disgusting practice. I started very young, 12 years old in fact and can still remember to this day ( I am now 41) that first cigarette and how foul it tasted, but egged on by a friend I continued to smoke. What did it matter, I was invincible and could give up whenever I wanted, or so I thought, yet nearly thirty years later I was still smoking.

Any smoker can give you many reasons why they smoke, none of them stand up to examination but I believed them just like any of my kind fighting for our smoking survival in an increasingley hostile world. "I enjoy smoking", "Smoking relaxes me when I'm stressed", "Smoking after a meal is enjoyable", recognise any of these statements? I do, I have used them all.....and guess what, none of them are really true, though we think so when we say them.

I Have Finally Done It, I Have Quit Smoking!!

A momentous occasion in my life has just occurred and I feel I have to share it to give hope to those still afflicted by a terrible disease. I QUIT SMOKING for good! The weed has gone from my life for ever, I feel free, unenslaved, clean and hopeful for a longer life. Damn it feels good.

If you have ever tried to quit smoking you will know how hard it is, I have tried several times in my life with varying degrees of longevity before succumbing to the weed again, and trying various methods. All these had a certain degree of success in that I once stopped for a whole TWO DAYS, once I stopped for nearly TWO YEARS. This time I know it is for good because this time it feels different, this time I made the choice differently.

My momentous time was 22:00 on Saturday 21st February 2009, this is a time I shall never forget and shall look back on with pride. This is the time my life changed for the better and I became a normal person again, a non-smoker. I will update this blog with my progress, my feelings, thoughts and advice for those of you who have yet to take the plunge and kick the weed FOREVER.