My story in a nutshell:
Started when I was 9, me and a friend used to steal a couple of fags from each of our parents every day, quickly moved on to buying 10 a day with the lunch money for school, then 20 a day. . . I'm now 25
Gave up for the longest time in 2007 for 9 months and never felt healthier, was going to the gym everyday, tae-kwondo 2 times a week. . then my dad died and I started again.
Since then the longest has been 3 months, then my Granddad died, normal stressful things I can deal with but death is a toughie.
Recently I made it 2 weeks which is long enough to keep going after that, but went out drinking (a lot) and thought just the one wouldn't hurt (I've been there so many times it's ridiculous but never see sense)
I'm sick of telling all my friends and family 'this time I'm giving up for good' so thought I'd find a forum to help this time instead.
The patches never worked for me, gives you the nicotine without the pleasure of having the fag in your hand, a bit like having an alcohol injection, without the fun night out with your friends, and made me a bit crazy.
Found the best way is to go cold-turkey, plan the date and the time well and look forward to it. Normally for me it's 12:00am so I can start the new full day as a non-smoker. I sometimes use a book (like hypnosis) by susan hepburn, the kind of thing I'd always disregarded in the past but it actually works for me, only use that method if I'm feeling really weak to quit.
The hard part for me is not stopping, but staying off them.
So here's day one anyway. . or 58 minutes of the first day. Really going to put 100% in to make this the last time. Fed up with the smell, the embarassment of needing one whenever I go, the breathing trouble, the lethargy and the bad taste amongst many many others.
Wish me luck!
Bob