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Ah yeah, that first smoke, I lived for that. I still can't understand how my non-smoking gf at the time did not dump me for this (I was a non-smoker when she met me but I started again). I'd go to bed stinking of a cigarette and get out of it in the morning to have my fix. Ugh...

This is an interesting point actually, and I agree with it. Why do we expect the people that are the best qualified to give us advice to be ex-smokers? Yeah, personal experience is second to none. But is it necessary? Just like you pointed out you don’t have to be a psychopath to become a good psychiatrist. Maybe we should just focus on wise words as opposed to who said them.

Ahhh I'm sorry for your loss! I'm glad this didn't make you want to smoke again. This was part of my quit as well, that I decided I would never smoke again, regardless of what happens and this includes really, really difficult losses. I'm pleased you didn't want to smoke at all even then and I hope you're doing alright otherwise too

You're doing really well, a part of it definitely is to resist the urge. Like you say, the important thing is you quit smoking and as you keep resisting the urge it will eventually get easier.

I bet! Must have been gross to sit there in all that smoke... So happy you got even more confirmation that you will never go there again.

Oh yes!! Congratulations and a huge thank you for your support on this forum

Hey, hesteralumni23, Congrats on joining this forum and being aware that you need to quit at a young age! I would advise you to take some time to read about addictions, especially the psychology of it. This helped me a lot when I quit. So many things resonated with me when I actually took the time to read and think about addictions - and my addiction to cigarettes. You need to treat the problem at the root, not just at the surface where you may quit for an x amount of time and then relapse (been there too many times). Best of luck and please keep posting on here!

I had a massive list of things I thought I would miss and thought I could not live without before I quit. For example, I thought: - I would be stressed as I thought cigarettes relieved stress - I would lose my identity - I wouldn't know what to do with myself when waiting for the bus or train - What was I going to do on ad breaks in the middle of a film or programme? - I would be less sociable - What if anything negative happened in my life? I wouldn't have a way of dealing with it with no cigarettes - How on earth would I ever go out again?? - And have a drink? What about when it's summer and I'm having a beer outside? Surely I can't not smoke then? - Eeek, what about holidays? - Oh and my darling morning coffee, that always goes with a cigarette. Surely I can't separate those two? I also thought: - I will never be able to sit through a 3 course meal in a restaurant without cigarettes in between courses - Or go out to a bar with my friends without stepping outside all the time - Or go through a day at work without smoking. An absolutely absurd idea - Or go to the airport without frantically smoking a million cigarettes before going through security checks and not being able to smoke until I get to my destination - Or get out of bed and not have a cigarette as the first activity of every single day - Or ever feel like I'm not a slave and ruled by addiction Luckily for me and most other ex smokers it turns out every single one of these assumptions were wrong. I can't even tell you how much better my life is now. But it can actually be a very vulnerable state when you quit, as all these habits and perceived comforts are changing in one go.

Hello to all the newbies from me too! Really look forward to your posts and also really rooting for you all!

7 years, 11 days smoke free (this is also 2,567 days) 51,347 cigarettes not smoked Holy sh*t that's a lot of cigarettes that would have ended up in my lungs!!

I also thought I wouldn't be "me" if I quit smoking. Totally resonate with thinking I would somehow lose my identity if I stopped - what a load of BS that turned out to be!! I was also under the majorly false impression that it relieved stress - the actual truth is it caused stress for me. I was always worrying if I have enough cigarettes/if there's somewhere I can buy some more/what if I run out/when can I have my next fix and the list goes on and on and on. I am not someone who is prone to being stressed easily and cigarettes have actually been the only bloody thing that have consistently ever stressed me out.

No post, I’ve since edited

I agree, whichever way you do it is a good way, as long as it leads to a quit. People are so different in this.

I second reading about addictions, the psychology behind it. This helped me immensely when I quit. And regarding NRT, if it helps then absolutely go for it! Whatever it takes for you not to smoke anymore. Look forward to your posts

I don’t think it hurts to share different experiences and methods on how people have quit. Doesn’t harm anyone and might even give someone who’s struggling to hold their quit a new idea

I quit suddenly in the middle of the day without a plan. It's like something just flipped in the right position in my head and I was just done. I was sick of it and increasingly annoyed at myself for previously blowing a nearly year-long quit due to basically getting cocky, i.e. "I've now beaten this addiction, I can smoke socially if I feel like it and leave it at that + all the other BS lies I fed myself so I would be "allowed" to smoke again. Of course that social smoking plan quickly turned into me smoking full time just like I had done before... duh. So this last time I just had enough. I was on the street, took a cigarette out of the pack, realised it was the last one of the pack and I'd have to go get some more, and I thought what and idiot I was for ever blowing my previous quit. And then something just flipped in my head and I was done. I decided there and then that I will never smoke again, this is it, I'm not doing this anymore, ever again. And I didn't buy more, I went home instead and signed up to a forum and posted on there straight away. 7 years later that was without a doubt the best moment of clarity I've ever had.

Thank you for your kind words and congratulations on your quit! How's it going so far?

Thank you for the warm welcome and congrats on your long quit!! Thanks so much Amazing to see so many people on here with such long quits

This is basically what I did too when I quit. Quit cold turkey as mentioned in my initial post and then immediately joined a forum. I spent a lot of time reading about addictions and posted on the forum straight away about having quit. It created a sort of a social setting, I would have to own up (or quietly disappear) if I messed it up. It was a massive help to read about other people's experiences, other smokers really understand it the best. I appreciated all the support of course, but someone who has never smoked just doesn't have the same level of insight into it.

That's the hardest month of them all done! Congratulations Richard!!

Huge congratulations, Tammy!! 20th June is a fantastic quit date, I would agree

10 months is amazing, massive congratulations!! You'll be counting this in years in no time

Thank you and thanks for the lovely welcome! Quitting is a great decision at any age, there are only benefits to be gained from it, regardless of how old you are or where you are in your life. I can see you've also quit a long time ago, and have posted a lot on here to help others, that's just lovely

Oh wow, I'm so glad to hear you found the help you needed on this forum! That's amazing and glad you've also stuck around to help others since you quit! It's been a long time now, well done!! Interested to hear how you actually managed it after everything you tried, did you need something else apart from the forum? Seriously impressed given you'd tried everything!

Thank you for the warm welcome, I'll be happy if I can help someone a bit