I am posting this story simply to help others to quit . It involves both my wife and i quitting some 7 years ago and the method in which we did it.
History:
I smoked for around 9 years and was smoking a pack and half a day when i quit. My wife was smoking a couple a day along with some
'green stuff' once a week.
I loved smoking, so did my wife and all their engrained associations...coffee/tea/food/alcohol/sex/reward.
So i decided to quit because my i was smoking out of boredom, fags were increasingly becoming a burden on our budget and my 'fear' of the health consequences. I started feeling the whole excercise of smoking was becoming moronic.......but i stll loved it.
My wife and i agreed to quit together. The deal was that for every week that went by that we were quitting we would put away 60 pounds a into a joint account. If one of us was caught smoking then the other would get all that was saved in the joint account....to do with as they pleased.
It was exraordinarily difficult to quit but as the money gathered it became increasingly hard to pick up a smoke. After six months we started to put more into the account.
The result after 2 years was that we had both not smoked and subsequently had enough money to put a deposit on our first apartment.
I relapsed about 8 months ago on a 2 week holiday to family and friends ( i had about 8 fags) however after the holiday i have continued to quit. My wife has never picked up in seven years (i hope )
Personally the 'wanting' of a smoke has still not gone, just the periods between wanting have become longer....maybe once a fortnight. The draw to smoke is amazing still after all these years.
So after reading this you may think this is a successful story, and yes it has been for the most part. However since giving up i have noticed my alcohol intake is up. My wife is still steady as a rock.
Hope this story helps others