Hi Gary,
I was like many others here, caught in the cycle of quit, relapse, quit. relapse...
In August of 2011 I quit,,, then my daughter left for college, so I relapsed. . In September of 2011, my sister (2 years older than me) at age 40 was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. She was to have surgery, and very aggressive chemotherapy.
Fear of getting cancer did not make me stop, , desire to not be a trigger for her made me stop. I knew she had to quit because her body would not heal from surgery or chemo if she continued to smoke. . . Our entire lives we were always the devil for each other. I would quit, then when I was with her, I would start. She would quit, then see me and start. If one of us quit, the other never denied the quitter a cigarette or a hit.
Just hearing her smoking when we were on the phone was once enough for me to start.
I wanted her to quit so she could be strong enough to fight... so I quit. I could never live with myself if I was a trigger. My love for her, and my desire for her to not smoke was what made me quit.
Sometimes fear for the ones we love is greater than fear for ourselves.
~Vikki

Good one vikki!

Who will be next?

The government screwed me over last year. They refused to get it straightened out and even threatened to levy my property for their mistake.
My anger towards their greed and their outrageous taxes on cigarettes alone disgusts me (do I sound bitter....lol)......soooooo one of the ways of fighting back is to quit smoking. Smoking is a choice and by purchasing cigarettes I am choosing to put more money in their pocket. Perhaps it doesn't hurt them.....but damn.....I feel better having a choice to withhold money where I can!!!! It was also a threat that health insurance was going to charge smokers more and cover less.....uuuggggghhhhh!
I'm done with throwing hard earned money away with nothing to show for it!

Another good one.

Who will be next?

That would be me Gro> I don"t want to end up dying like my dad of lung cancer> I also have vein problems and maybe quitting smoking would help me> I also want to be a good role model for my daughter>

Another Good one Judy.

Who will be next?

Me, Gary, and how are YOU doing?? My main motivation was having grandchildren. I couldn't quit for my kids but when my first Grand was born, my daughter wouldn't let me hold her till I aired out and changed my clothes. I didn't want to miss out on a thing with my Grands. I was tired of being by myself when out with my hubby, me sneaking around, hiding because of my habit. None of my friends smoked. I wanted my wonderful husband, who had quit 30 years before , to not have to kiss an ashtray. Boy oh boy, in the last 4 years, I sure have gotten more kisses. Great post Gary.

I have smoked since I was 13... was diagnosed with Asthma at age 32 and all that did was make me feel guilty about smoking..... but I didn't quit, or rather I never stayed quit. I swore I would quit when they hit $3 a pack... then it was $4 a pack and so on..... I was paying 7.50 a pack when I finally did quit. I would try to quit for my kids but failed at that too..... At some point I made it a goal to quit before I turned 50 (I am 48 now) but that was not really it either. Last year in October I had an asthma attack that landed me in the hospital for a few days... then I had another with another hospital stay in November, and yet a third hospital stay in December...... While in the hospital on Dec 30 and 31, and Jan 1 I was given the patch and decided that I should take advantage of it and quit for real. The first thing I did when I got home was smoke..... then I tore up all my cigarettes but the next day I dug in the trash for pieces I could smoke (I know, gross). But the next day (Jan 3) I made it all day and have been good since. Ironically I was diagnosed with COPD late February....

mayberrydeb and and devive I am glad that you joined this post and I hope to keep it going until every body on this board has a good reason to quit smoking that will work for them.

Gary

I decided it was time for me to start taking care of myself.

I really hated how I would feel in the morning after smoking cigarette after cigarette at night. I also hated hiding, that hypocritical feeling when there were some friends and acquaintances in front of whom I would avoid smoking.

Still trying to find mine. :-(

I won't give up and will post again when I find mine.

These are all great reasons and they are encouraging for me as I can relate to many of these.

Take Care, Dawn

I quit because I was tired of coughing up a lung everytime I lit up and tired of coughing up a whole lot of money to cough and choke. I set a date of Feb 14th thinking of how great it was for my heart, for my hubby's heart, easy date to remember etc. I ran out of cigs on Feb 13th and told myself I could buy another pack and (A.) Not quit, (B.) Have myself a smokefest or (C.) Just quit. I simply quit cold turkey, had Chantix prescription as a back-up plan but never needed it. That was over 6 years ago and I have never regretted my decision to become an ex-smoker nor have I had a real desire to light up again after the first month of learning how to live smoke free.

Sorry I didn't get to my reason sooner, but my internet was down for a couple of days.

I quit late last year because of smoking related health issues. After being smoke free for 48 weeks now, I feel so much better. I still have the desire to smoke, but the desire to feel better is much stronger.

Gary

Gary, I had started a quit at Christmas time 2009 but I could never get past that last 4....Granted 4 smokes a day was probably better than 20 or 40 day and I may have stayed there for a while but my hubby got sick in January with a cold. By the end of January he knew it was more than just a cold and had me make him a DR. appointment. It took him over a week to tell me every thing the Dr. told him. He had moderate to severe emphysema. The Doc put us both on Chantix. I lasted a week on that. This site got me off of those 4 smokes and down to 0 on Feb 8th. My reason for quitting was to be with my guy for as long as God would give us. It has been three years and God willing will be at least three more. I will never ever pick up another smoke....!