johnny5

You are doing great, Christine. Yes, it can be tough, but life as a nonsmoker is worth these early struggles.

Stay strong, Linda, and yes, rant away. Do whatever you need to do but do NOT smoke. What you are going through is normal and things do get better with time.

Nope!

Nope!

Here are my roughly 32,347 unsmoked cigarettes since I quit.

NOPE - Smoking sucks!

Keep up the great work, Linda. As Doreen said, you are already a nonsmoker. The key to staying that way is just not lighting back up.

Nope

Nope

Nope

Nope

Congratulations on your first month smoke free, @Steven Drojensky You are doing great!

Congratulations on 9 months smoke free, @Angeleek Thanks for sharing your quit journey with us.

Congratulations on 4 years smoke free, @d2e8b8 That is awesome!

A lot of these excuses to continue smoking I can relate to as I used them too. Another excuse: Smoking helps me concentrate and be more focused/creative on whatever project I was involved with at work. I often felt that taking a few minutes away from a project to light up allowed me to step back and see my task from a bigger perspective. I could then come back to my computer with a whole new creative focus. Truth: I was outside with my co-workers hearing the latest gossip. I came back to my computer out of breath and the last thing I was thinking about was my work. Since quitting smoking, if I need to step back from my work to re-focus, I can go for a walk, drink some water, etc. and come back to my project with more energy and a more positive mindset. For some reason, I felt smoking really helped with creativity which is complete BS.

NOPE!

Nope

NOPE!

Congratulations on 8 years smoke free, Cristobal. Thanks for all the support that you have given fellow quitters over the years.

You feel weird because you are making a big change from life as a smoker to life as a nonsmoker. You are doing the right thing but you are suffering through nicotine withdrawal symptoms which is extremely common and to be expected. Most everyone on this site has experienced this. Fight through this. Your physical cravings should weaken over the next few days. Just remember, you are doing a great thing. Stay strong and keep the quit.

NOPE!

Nope!

NOPE!

Welcome aboard, @Margeetx You are making a great decision in quitting smoking. Keep reading up on nicotine addiction and post often (it does help). There is a lot of support and knowledge you can gain here. It is great to have you here.