10 years!

[Steve71]

Quitting was easy for me once I came to a solid honest conclusion. "I have to quit smoking or I will die early of lung cancer." That simple. Once you actually accept that, and let it sink in, and KNOW it, it really isn't hard to do (I know many will think that is BS).

Totally agree, it was the same for me as well. When I finally did quit, it actually was easy not to smoke after that, I didn't really have the desire to do it after the first few days. I think once you actually accept it like you said, then things change. It was the same for alcohol for me as well. I'm a recovering alcoholic and after I finally accepted that I was able to move forward without a whole lot of issues.

[harry697]

Quitting was easy for me once I came to a solid honest conclusion. "I have to quit smoking or I will die early of lung cancer." That simple. Once you actually accept that, and let it sink in, and KNOW it, it really isn't hard to do (I know many will think that is BS). I had tried quitting in the past for various other reasons, and maybe the cancer thing was on the list, and none of that stuck. It took that realization for it to work. I quit cold turkey and really wasn't that bad. I thought I would never be able to really break the habit because I did (and do) enjoy the tasty beverages, and those two things are like PB&J together, but again, once the mental thing kicks in, it isn't hard. Heck, I still took smoke breaks every hour with my smoking buddy at work, and just never lit one.

And the fact that smokes are over $5 a pack now! Seriously, I was a carton a week smoker, so we are talking about $200+/month!!!

I am 60 lbs down in a weight loss challenge right now, and at least for me, losing weight is WAY MORE difficult than quitting smoking!

Telling myself I would die early from lung cancer didn't faze me one bit. Waking up in the middle of the night with shallow breathing scared me, but I would still wake up a few hours later and proceed to smoke a pack a day with ease. Fairly sure that the past 20 some years of cigarettes will still aid in my early death, but it is what it is at this point. Better late than never I guess.

Not sure what made me quit, but I stopped cold turkey on my wife's birthday (February 28th). This is my second serious attempt and it seems to be working thus time. Still have urges, but seems to be more muscle memory than addiction at this point. I quit close to 2 years ago for a couple months but ended up starting again and I was smoking more than ever. I quit that time because of a serious infection after having a tooth pulled. Wish I could find the pic of my face that morning. It was insanely swollen! Lol. Had to quit smoking and drinking because of the oral surgery and the antibiotics to fight the infection. Needless to say, I was not someone that people wanted to hang out it with at that point in time. Lol.

Looks like tomorrow makes 2 months for me. I'm confident that it's gonna stick this time. I think I figured that the whole "current situation" would be a good time to quit. In hindsight it may have been the worst time to attempt such a stunt.
But either way, it happened.

BTW, where do you live that cigarettes are over $5 a pack? In my neck of the woods, they passed $5 so long ago that I can't even attempt to guess the year. I was spending $70-$100 a week on smokes by the time I quit.