You are already on the way..............

[nsd_user663_53202]

Hi everyone

In a few weeks (20 October) it will be 3 years since I had a cigarette. In case you are wondering, I spend every waking moment thinking about smoking, deep breathing to fend off cravings and somehow just about managing to resist the urge to rush down the shops and buy some fags...................whoops, that's some kind of terrible flashback - that's not me today, it was me three years ago.

Nowadays the picture is somewhat different, I never think about smoking, not at all. Strangely I can't really even imagine myself smoking, The thought of me doing it seems alien to me now. Not doubt at the moment the idea that you will one day be free from it seems equally alien to you. The fact is, you are much further down the line to quitting than you realise.

There is one thing that you are not able to prevent. It does not matter what you do to try to resist it as it is an unstoppable process. That process it this: if you continue to get through each day without smoking then, day by day, imperceptibly, the habit will leave you. You will not be able to hold onto it, no matter how hard you try, Although it may not seem like it, the habit has already started to depart.

No doubt you have been spending every spare moment thinking desperately about smoking. "Just one puff", "One won't hurt" and all that other nonsense. Soon, if it has not occurred already, you will have a truly profound experience. You will be shocked to discover that for at least 10 seconds, perhaps as many as 30, you were thinking about something else other than smoking. Surely not! Yet that is exactly what will happen.

Within no time, this will happen again. Soon it will be a minute - maybe as many as 5 whole minutes! You will not be surprised to hear that your thoughts will repeatedly turn back to smoking, sometimes with an overwhelming intensity. Nevertheless, as time goes on, the periods of "smoke free thinking" get longer. At the same time the periods of thinking about smoking decrease. Happily, even when the thoughts about smoking do occur, they get less powerful until they become vague murmurings in the background. In time they cease all together.

This is what has happened to me. It is happening to you too, so hang in there.

[RoisinO1 Administrator 3 Years Smoke Free]

Hey Biggrin, love the profile name! Congratulations on the huge milestone of 3 years, what an achievement! Your post is very encouraging and motivating, I am on Day 15 and doing ok, now is the time in my quit that I have to accept my life without relying on a smoke to get me through hard times, celebrations, sunny evenings with a drink, boredom and not give in to the 'just one smoke,' hopefully I get there and I get to celebrate your milestone, thanks again for sharing...

[nsd_user663_53202 in reply to RoisinO1]

Hi Rowens. Until I read your post I had forgotten the magical power of tobacco to get you through any situation life throws at you - good or bad - astonishing! After 3 years of doing without this "invaluable assistance" I am amazed that I am still in existence!

15 days is great going, well done.

[Hidden]

Obsolutely lovely post. I want to read it over and over, I want to believe it! I'll definitely come back to this post...the light in the end of the tunnel! Thank you for posting today, I needed to read this.

[nsd_user663_53202 in reply to Hidden]

That light at the end of the tunnel is much closer than it looks. A few months into my quit I had a period of several weeks when it got very challenging. Previously I had had a period of relative calm so I found this new relentless pressure to smoke very disheartening. The thing is, it passed. Also, I found that a big piece of my addiction seemed to have been burned up and I felt much greater freedom afterwards. I don't know if that is happening to you. If it is, keep going, as although it seems bad, what is really happening is that your addiction is being dealt a killer blow from which it will not recover.