johnny5

Hi Sunshine. Quitting is not a quick event. You are re-learning how to live your life without cigarettes, something that was a huge part of your life for a long time. What you are going through is normal for a lot of quitters. Think of quitting as a journey as you are re-learning how to live your life as a non-smoker. In retrospect, a lot of quitters, myself included, look back at the first few months as a positive and growing experience, even if we felt depressed, empty, miserable, etc. at the time. You are doing great, even if it doesn't feel that way right now. Keep up the great work, things will improve with time.

NOPE!

NOPE!

Welcome @Sunshine and congratulations on our decision to quit. You are doing a great thing in putting cigarettes behind you. The last few years that I was a smoker I made numerous failed attempts as well so I can relate to your experience there. What really helped for me was joining a quit forum like this. There is a lot of education and support you can get here. Understanding nicotine addiction and having the support of others really does help. There are many ways to quit but I also quit cold turkey. Along with this forum, I would recommend reading Allen Carr's "The Easy Way to Quit Smoking." I would not say that this book makes quitting easy but it does put smoking into a different perspective, especially for a cold turkey quitter. The main thing I took from the book is that smoking really does nothing positive for you. It is all negative. Once you realize that there are no positives to smoking, it does make quitting a bit easier. You may struggle early on but if you feel the urge to smoke and can't shake it, start a post in the SOS Board part of the site and wait for some help to keep you from lighting up. Also, pledge in the NOPE (Not One Puff Ever) thread daily. It does help. Welcome again, it is good to have you here.

NOPE!

All of the reasons you provide are excuses we told ourselves to keep smoking. I know I told a lot of them to myself. You are right about them being debunked or downright false but I know it is hard seeing that in the early days. You are right, it is better to stay quit. Over a period of time of being smoke free, you will see how false these reasons to continue smoking really are.

You are doing a great thing in quitting smoking @mediahound Welcome to our site!

Yes, buying a pack and starting again may be easy but quitting again will be really hard. Fight the urge, it will go away. Don't worry about Monday, worry about today and making it through this crave. Not giving in will be a huge victory that you can build this quit on. Keep the quit, you will not regret it. You will regret smoking again, though. You can do this, Kdad. Don't smoke.

NOPE!

NOPE!

Congratulations on 9 months smoke free, Katgirl. This is huge. I hope you celebrate.

Congratulations on 5 years smoke free, Rozuki. That is awesome. Cheers to you.

Welcome Oslo. You are doing a great thing in quitting, especially at an early age. As Boo posted and Jill re-quoted, successfully quitting has no regrets, only not having done that sooner. That was perfectly put. There are tons of benefits to quitting and aside from any early, short term struggles (which are temporary), there is no downside to quitting. Welcome again. You are doing a great thing.

Quitting for others sounds good but ultimately you have to quit for yourself. I started smoking in college and soon got a girlfriend who hated cigarettes and she would say, "it's so easy, just don't smoke" and would sometimes be quite insulting about "how can you just not figure this shit out. Just don't smoke." and those were the nicer things she said about me smoking. I got to the point to where I not only felt horrible about myself being a smoker but grew to resent her for her advice. The advice is correct but is amazingly difficult for someone who is not a nicotine addict to understand. Also, I hid it from her when I claimed I was trying to quit but now I realize that it is really tough to hide smoking to a nonsmoker, with the odor, etc. Having someone else wanting you to quit is great inspiration but you really have to want it yourself. They simply don't understand. Smoking isn't going to help you quit. That sounds so reasonable to me now but that wasn't a message I wanted to hear when I was trying to quit. You really have to commit to not taking another puff. If you have to go to nicotine replacements, etc., it is worth it. You've been fighting this desire to quit and then return to smoking for a long time now. Please believe it is worth it to commit to not smoking and the start is to commit to not taking another puff, even if you commit to it one minute, hour, day at a time. You can do this, Kdad.

NOPE!

NOPE!

Congratulations Jim. 5 years smoke free is awesome . I'm really happy for you.

Welcome back, @Kdad You can do this. Life without cigarettes is so much better than life being controlled by nicotine. I've seen you here many times before which means you really know you need to quit. Read our posts in the quit smoking section of our site, check out @KEL's link to "Voices of Nicotine Recovery".....I never saw that site before but I'm sure it could help. Also, if you haven't, check out Allen Carr's book "The Easy Way to Quit Smoking" which is available both in print and online. You need to quit, Kdad, and I hope you can get that support here but check out other resources also.

Congratulations Steven! You are doing great! 2 thumbs up.

NOPE!

Congratulations on 1 year smoke free, Ace. Celebrate big today!

NOPE!

NOPE!

I'm sorry to hear that @nicotine_free The best thing to do is start the quit again. Glad you are doing that. Reach out to the board if you are about to smoke. Support does help a lot. Quitting smoking for good is very doable and worth the early struggles.

NOPE!