NOPE

Just to avoid discouraging newbie quitters, the time needed for physical recovery after quitting is probably different for everyone. I smoked for 14 years, but starter very early (15 year-old) and 500+ days since quitting I feel awesome physically. No coughs whatsoever, mornings are as good as the rest of a day (I thought "I wasn't a morning person"), can walk and run as much as someone who never smoked (and probably more than the general population) etc. Sure, I probably damaged my lungs bad enough while my body was still developing that I will never have the same lung capacity as someone who never smoked, but I can live with that. The point is that yes, you most likely can recover and yes - it will get better! It just takes time. The mental side though, well that's another story. I agree we'll always be ex-smokers!

Thank you all very much, it really means a lot to me. I just wanted to add something for newbies. From what I've read so far, people do not have second thoughts if they are 1 year into quit. I believe this heavily depends on the reason for your quit and other factors as well. Most people quit because they are sick of smoking, they want to be FREE of addiction, healthy for their children, because of social stigma etc etc... I live in a country with most smokers per capita in the world. Not smoking here is kinda weird, socially. Cigarettes are dirty cheap here, I don't plan on having a family (so can't really quit for kids etc), I didn't mind being addicted and smelling bad from time to time. And I wasn't really sick of smoking. What I am trying to say is that I didn't quit for reasons people usually do. I only quit because of possible health implications in 30 or 40 years from now, if I even make it that long. And I believe that's mostly why I am having a hard time from time to time. I sometimes feel like I've lost a lot and gained nothing. Having said that, I feel much better last 2 days and it seems I need to keep myself physically active EVERY day instead of 4-5x per week to keep my serotonin and dopamine high :) Thank you all again for being supportive!

Thanks everyone for the overwhelming support. I won't just take a puff or have one cigarette, do not worry about that :) I am more in a state of "Does it ever gets better?" "Is it really worth it?", but that shall pass with the anniversary, hopefully!

Hey, I am new here, even though I lurked around for the past several months. I quit almost a year ago. In fact, I'll celebrate my anniversary in about two weeks, having smoked for 14 years before that. I am 30 years old now. Despite the fact that I know pretty much everything there is about quitting, dangers of smoking etc, I am having increasingly harder time as the date of my quitting anniversary approaches. It doesn't really feel that much different from, let's say, month 1. Anyway, it's good to be here!