Today marks my half-a-year point for quitting smoking. July 11th, 2009 i quit, and i now count my months by the calendar month so today being january 11th, thats 6 months done 
Bring on month 7
Its been a strange 6 months.. but very rewarding so far
Good luck to all new quitters who started in the new year too.. its worth all the effort.
mr Jase! I'm very happy to be the first to congratulate you on this great achievement. Its a massive milestone (I cant wait to get there) and you fully deserve it.
YOU HALF WAY TO A YEAR!!!!!
I know that you gotta now set your sights on that 8 month mark which will be a big one psychologically due to your previous quit but we are getting ahead of our selves. For now you can bask in the glory of the 6 months!!!
really big well done to you mate! 
Hey Jase, Congratulations on your 6 month milestone!! You've done real well. Can't say my first 6 months were 'strange'.... overall they were just plain crap 
Except for a couple of bumps in the road, things have been a breeze since then..... I know the same will be true for you! Great job!
Congratulations...
Well Done Jason, First 6 Months over, 2nd 6 Months will fly by, halfway to the Penthouse...... U have done fantastic... Kaz 
My Goodness, half way there, a huge well done to you. I know you will ride the wave and before you know it a seat in the penthouse will have your name on it.
uselessgraphics.com/Congrat... You Jase
How fantastic do you feel
That's awesome Jase....bloody fantastic
WELL DONE Jase - Half way to the Penthouse - you'll be there before you know it!
well done Jase, halfway to the penthouse now!! You will be there before you know it!
CONGRATULATIONS and Well done to you Jase, and glad u have kept your unique sense of humour.
Big Well done Jase you deserve to be well pleased. The next months are easier and seem to pass quicker too.
Jackie
Whooppeee for Jase
Can't add any nice pics as in the office but well done, know what you mean about it being a strange 6 mths - at least you've quit though. Onwards and upwards and never take another puff, love your quit and keep it strong.
Six months completed :cool: - a great strong quit you have there
Huge congrats to you Jase - I look forward to seeing your 'arrival post' in the summer
Hope the next half is a lot less 'strange' and a lot more balanced and less intense for you
'One step forward, two steps forward, no steps backwards' - words of song that the title escapes me
thanks :)...
yeah when i say strange.. my quit went from a supercharged positivity to kind of like an anti-climax after the 3rd month.. then it was a downward spiral of emotion only to be lifted up again just before christmas. Quite the rollercoaster.. and challenging.. but at the same time, ever so rewarding.
It certainly helped in the early days to post to help others and continues to do now.
Its been a funny ol' quit, but i am certainly looking forward to the next 6 months now as it will be mostly during spring and early summer which are my two favourite seasons of the year.. so thats got to be good
Jase - BRILLIANT mate!! Well done. So pleased for you.
I've been a few weeks behind you all the way - and you've paved the way for me. A lot of things you went through, I also experienced.
Your generous messaging on how its been for you has been a great help.
Penthouse - here you come!!!
Jase, Congratulations on your 6 months freedom! The next 6 will be much easier and go much faster. Before you know it, 1 year will have gone by. Keep going strong. Jody
Congrats!
well done JAse - glad ya made it - here's to us both hitting the year mark hehe
Yaaay Jase,
Thats fabulous going, jolly well done!!!
I count my quit in months too! i've another 2/3's to go before i reach your half year marker!! Jolly impressed!
Thanks also for your supportive comments along my quit time!!!
Tis most appreciated darlin!
Keep it up.... the penthouse is beckoning you with a bent finger!
*cheesy smile*
xx
Yaaaay congrats Jase!
A big thankyou for posting, I've been following your progress as you've been ahead of me on the patches - you must have been at the stage where I am now when I first quit - wow doesn't time fly!
XXx
Gaun yersel big man!! No lang tae wan year! Sorry......was still in the Parliamo Glasgow mode.....Well done sir, you'll be knocking on that Penthouse door before you know it. :cool:
big thanks for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate you doing so.
As it happens today the 11th of january coincides with a post a friend of over 8 years whom i met on the internet, and have shared more than the odd laugh with over the years shared a very long story within a World of warcraft gaming guild forum about his latest challenge in life, and in it he described at length the pain he and his family are going through as his mother is battling with the effects of what nicotine addiction can do to a person. She is not in a very well state sadly.. but all i know is that his post made today and without knowledge of my 6 month quit smoking milestone, he made it on the forum he visits regularly, and i read it just tonight and was reduced to tears.. me .. a grown man.. crying as i read what he and his family are going through.
needless to say.. outside of the reasons i gave for quitting smoking myself, i will take on board all i've read tonight, and it will re-enforce my quit to be even stronger than it was before, because as a parent.. a dad.. i never want my daughter to ever have to go through that with me...
"For two weeks now I had not a single minute of relaxation. My whole body and mind are in permanent alarm condition. Anxiously I watch my phone for any bad news from the hospital. If she survives this week, it will be months till a recovery. Not mentioning the chemo therapy for treating the cancer."
Kinda hits home .. it truly does.
My name is Jase, i am a recovering nicotine addict and i make it my pledge that while i live and breath, i will not allow nicotine back into my life to wreak the same damage as it has caused my friend.
(sorry for rambling, i never dreamed i would read what i had done tonight).
jase
sorry to hear about your friend and their suffering Jase. My auntie has just recently finished having chemotherapy and is hopefully on the road to recovery but it certainly does make you realise that this is not just a game its an absolute necessity if we want to save ourselves and those we love a lot of pain.
Well Done Jase
Congratulatations Jase ................halfway to the penthouse and it gets easier and better every day but you already know that.
Keep up the good work mate.
Regards Trev
Quit 28th April 09
3 months patches
5 and a half months C.T
thanks alot
yep lately its been much much easier, feeling alot more balanced than much earlier in my quit.. and not as tired as i was in the early part of around november time too. Quitting smoking is a journey, one i'm glad i began and am still on.
Hi Jase.
Congratulations and Best Wishes and a big well done for quitting. It certainly hits home when something like that happens what you wrote in your story.
Ju x
Hi Jase,
Sorry, spotted this a bit late, but didn't want to miss it.
Huge congratulations on the 6 months milestone. It really is a great achievement and gives added impetus to keeping the quit permanent.
All strength to you.
Deke
Jase, I missed this too. You've done brilliantly. Feels like you've been here forever though!! All downhill in an uphill type of manner from here(that sounds rubbish either way. I mean: blink and the next 6 months will be over/its easier now/ the worst is over/etc etc. I've bored myself now! Keep your wits about you! Fi x
Sorry Jase. Missed this one- half a year for you. WELL DONE
Today marks my half-a-year point for quitting smoking. July 11th, 2009 i quit, and i now count my months by the calendar month so today being january 11th, thats 6 months done
Bring on month 7
Its been a strange 6 months.. but very rewarding so far
Good luck to all new quitters who started in the new year too.. its worth all the effort.
Jase
well done mate 6 months hey !!!!! great effort mate, really pleased for you ...
@ bradders: thanks m8y, it won't be long for you and well.. quite a number of folk soon too.. a whole lot of us quit around a similar time of the year and month by month we all make it through.. lovely to see so much success
@ Chrissie V: Yes i celebrated with a 16 year old bottle of wine which was really nice I think i'll reach the 1 year penthouse with no problem now though, i never even think of smoking now, and i suppose if i do, i blank it so quickly i hardly remember it happened. You stick at your quit chrissie, you are worth all the effort.
@ fionacox: i got what you mean, and yeah it will be like freewheeling down a lovely hill now after a hard slog to cycle up it .. and i can't wait. Will be spring soon too, lovely time of year.. whats not to like?
@ jude75: you didn't miss it.. you posted.. and thats enough thanks
@ deke: i don't mind late... thank you for your good wishes.. and wish you well equally for your quit too. you are doing so well now.
@ JulieE: honestly n truly, i read my friends post regards his mother and it really upset me.. made me realise how smoking really CAN affect a family, and it added majorly to my resolve to be free.
Damn it!! My apologies too...but then definitely my CONGRATS on your 6 month triumph. There are some folk that you just know beyond doubt will make a success of a quit
Hope that things are looking better on the friend's mother front.
Thanks both. Don't worry about being late posting, i sometimes miss posts for days/weeks sometimes.. but thanks for replying now.
Yeah things have really began settling down now since christmas time i had no issues with christmas itself, i knew that i'd made a mistake in Christmas 2008 with regards allowing the idea of a cigar to be acceptable while i was meant to be quitting, but in 2009, figured, that i'd learned from that previous mistake and christmas came and went without a single hitch.. no desire for a smoke at all.
I think i'm at the closest point to normal one can be at the moment, i'm finding its more about stress management than worrying about the quit now, life gives different stresses all the time, its how we manage it that counts, i just simply choose not to use smoking as a method now. So I deal with the stresses head on, and well, even the stres doesn't seem as bad as it did when i smoked.. almost like smoking added extra stress into the equation until i'd smoked? weird, but thats how it seems now. So without smoking, stress is just normal stress now? (if that makes sense)
I'm really looking forward to the next 6 months though, i've done the hardest part, and with my favourite seasons of the year now nearly here, i figure its got to be much much easier.
@ Cav: i've not heard of any improvements as yet from my friend re; his mother.. but i'm certainly hoping she does recover. None of us would want to lose either of our parents to smoking related illnesses.. but every time i see my own mother chain smoking (despite all my words in the past), i do wonder if i too one day will be where my friend is now .. words cannot describe how i would feel were i in his situation right now.
So I deal with the stresses head on, and well, even the stres doesn't seem as bad as it did when i smoked.. almost like smoking added extra stress into the equation until i'd smoked? weird, but thats how it seems now. So without smoking, stress is just normal stress now? (if that makes sense)
Totally chime with this comment, Jase. Can I point out that nicotine does add stress to ones life. Remove that and...well stress is still there...but not as acute. Given a lessening of that you'll find that it has a domino effect throughout your life. Lots of things to still look forward to
BTW - Dufels...excellent drop
BTW - Dufels...excellent drop
Knew you'd like it!!! its a quality beer that is I'm always glad when my off licence restocks it
It was actually some lads from belgium that got me to try that... thank god for the internet
Half Year Celebrations 
