Smoking in reality is never important or necessary....it really isn't. I was at my patio chair on a summer evening, like most, chain smoking away. Talking to my oldest and best friend she said to me, "honey you are weezing and coughing all the time, you are beautiful and intelligent, quit smoking" she had quit about a year ago. We are 43, met when we were 6, I love her and trust her and I couldn't breathe worth a shit. Frankly I was already scared, waking up scared, short of breath, all that! I called my Doc' the next day for a script for chantix.....took it for less time than most.....90 days later, smoke-free(dom)....86 days was having a blessing at my Thanksgiving dinner table....I'm winning, you can too!

I don't know if I agree about having to be in a place where smoking is no longer important or necessary in order to quit. Smoking seemed really important and necessary to me when I quit. I wasn't able to release those feelings until after I been quit for awhile. I also found that wanting to quit smoking was really important. I was able to quit at the point when my desire to stop became stronger than my desire to continue. What made that happen? A lot of things combined, but I'd say that being fed up with myself for continuing to do something I knew was really bad for me was at the top of the list. Once I confronted that, grappled with it for awhile, owned it, and ultimately made up my mind to get past it, I got unstuck and was able to get on with the business of quitting.

I have to go with these ladies on this one. I really did not want to stop, some days I still don't. But I was getting scared. Like Shell I was waking up short of breath, my Mom had just had a heart attack, mainly due to her pack and a half a day habit and my friends were starting to get concerned. Everybody NEEDS to quit. The addicted part of our brain is not going to let us think that smoking is anything but important or necessary, so it is up to us to ignore the addiction and know and be sure that this is what we have to do to save our own lives!

I too thought smoking was important and necessary ... it was a health scare that got me to quit. I still sometimes think about smoking, it's just been 1 wk and 6 days , but I've made it so far. The urge comes along less and less now.
I was also getting tired of being a social outcast, know what I mean ? Not that many people smoke in the states any more.

Unlike others here, health scares did not scare me. I have emphysema and continued to smoke. My problem was depression. Finding the right anti-depressant and accepting smoking as an "addiction" were the main keys to my latest quit. Addicts do not seem to care if they live or die. I was so depressed I did not care about my own life. Facing
depression and addiction propelled me into quitting.

Thank you all so much for your comments. I'm ready to kick butts again. Mon., Dec 3rd is my quit date. I'm just trying to get my mind once and for all so that I won't ever smoke again. Gail

Hmmm..
I guess I never thought smoking was Important or Necessary. I always thought is was STUPID and GROSS and yet I WANTED it and convinved myself that I NEEDED it at times.

Watching my Mother die at the young age of 55 from a painful and miserable death that was directly caused by her smoking was what triggered me to start thinking about quitting. It took me a full year from the day she died, but I finally did it, with the help of Chantix.
You can too!

Quit Date: 11/10/07
Smoke Free: 17 Days
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 340!
Money Saved: $68.00

It takes time to do some "brain retrain" to think as a nonsmoker. It took me about 4 months to find the peace the goes with living as a nonsmoker. At first that nicodemon screamed at me to feed it feed it feed it. Two or maybe three weeks into not smoking the act and actions associated with quitting became far more important than the act of smoking. The peace does not happen overnight nor is it an event. It sneaks up on you and then one day you realize "wow I have not even thought about smoking for the past few days" That's when time started to really fly for me, it was no longer something that took precedence in my daily life, it BECAME part of my lifestyle.

I believe what you are looking for is the place where your desire to NOT smoke outweighs your desire to smoke. Thats how I quit 2 years ago.

Examine the details of your smoking. Why are you smoking that particular cigarette? Are you upset, annoyed, angry, bored, sad, disappointed, or what? What do you expect the cigarette to do for you? Does it accomplish that objective? Is there anything else you could do other than smoke? How does smoking feel, physically? Notice the heat from the cigarette on your fingers and lips. Feel the heat and sting in your mouth, nose, and throat as you take a drag and inhale. Is there any rattle, gurgle, or tickle in your lungs or throat when you breathe? How about the smoke in your eyes; how does that feel? See the yellow stains on your fingers? Notice the difference in smoke color between what you inhale and what you exhale? Know that the difference is staying in your lungs and is the same as that yellow stain on your fingers. Know, also, that what remains behind in your lungs infuses the cells and alters the DNA, creating the possibility for those cells to become cancerous.

Smoking is not good, in any way, shape, or form. It kills with a slow, painful, lingering death that causes great heartache to those who care about the smoker. The only purpose smoking has is to make money for the tobacco companies (and governments via tobacco taxes). They are, IMO, no different than the pusher on the street corner selling crack and heroin to children, and should be treated as such.

OK, getting down off the soapbox. :)

Peace and blessings to you, Gail.
Shevie
Quit May, 2005