Hi to all fellow quitters - especially those in the class of June 2011 !
I remember the day like it was yesterday - it was June 6th 2011 - I was driving home from work (it was sunny - unlike this years monstrous weather).
I remember being very pensive - I had just come to the end of the Alan Carr audio book and it was make or break time for me.
It was time to smoke my last cigarette !
I rolled it as I was driving along (I know - I know) and smoked the bloody thing - I hadn't even finished it and I was already thinking that I missed it.
Anyway I got home and chucked all tobacco, lighters, etc in the bin - the first three months were hard (not a nightmare - just a long hard slog) I had to stay focussed and keep the nicotine monster under the thumb. I shall always remember the sudden pangs I would get, seemingly out of nowhere, just like hunger pangs.
After about three months things got a bit easier, the pangs were a thing of the past, but the nicotine monster would every now and again rear it's ugly head and sort of suggest 'hey have a fag - it won't matter now, you've proved you can do it'. These thoughts still happen but not often - and I smile to myself when they do.
I can now quite happily go to places where I'll find smokers (partys, BBQ's, etc) and happily chat away to them and have no desire to 'bum a fag' (what an expression:-))
So here I am - a year on - a non-smoker, my horrible smokers cough has gone, I can taste food better, my wife tells me that I smell better and I started running after the three month period expired.
I've done a couple of 5K events and have entered my 1st 10K event (coming up in July). The running has been hard - but I've loved the fact that I can now run further than I did in my 20's and 30's.
So here's the thing - any new quitters reading this - if I can do it, so can you - I believed that I would never stop, I believed that I loved the act of smoking to much, I believed that smoking was part of me, part of my personality, I believed that I was to weak and that life was to stressful.
Pick your 'give up day' well - and expect to be nervous - I was.
Choose whatever method suits YOU - Cold Turkey, patches, Self Help stuff, Acupuncture, whatever - It's got to suit you !
Expect the first few days to be easier than expected....but for the weeks that follow to be a bit of a grind. But be stoical - stick with it.
And keep a watch for the nastly little thoughts that sneak into your mind - that tell you that 'one won't hurt' - it does.
Good Luck