I gave up many years ago
 

I still remember my journey to quitting, I was a young woman and for my age a very heavy smoker. I had the hacking cough of an old gentleman and would without hesitation reach for a cigarette after a coughing fit!
There were 3 things only that helped me to give them up, and I made the choice at 21 on Xmas eve.
1) I had the misfortune of smelling my own breath after I had exhaled from a quick drag. I was talking to a lady whom I had a great deal of respect for, she was close enough for me to see the look on her face as she smelled it the same time as did I! That was my motivator, it was terrible!
2) I found holding and rolling a soft pen shaped object between my index and middle finger just where I usually held a cigarette provided a soothing comfort.
3) chewing and having something in my mouth, at the time I had long hair, after realising I was constantly chewing my hair ends I cut my hair short and swiftly moved to replace it by popping my long necklace in my mouth. All done subconsciously and once acknowledged I replaced again with my pen or pencil, while still unattractive it was much better than my hair or jewellery.
In later years I observed others giving up and I see it is easier not to tell other smokers you are giving up, without meaning to they often sabotage your efforts because they themselves don't want to be a lone smoker.
I gave up overnight, I went from 30 plus a day to nil. Never underestimate the power of your mind, if you can find the motivator, you will achieve it.

I quit many times as well.

Four motivators....
1. I worked with a woman whose husband was a surgeon and she knew I wanted to quit. She brought in photos of lungs from surgeries where lungs had been removed and autopsies from smokers. It was so disgusting, I quit that day. Honestly, it was just horrific. I'll find some and send them if you want.

2. You stink and so do your clothes. Think about what your hair smells like and your clothes and home smell like. Offensive to others but most are too gracious too say anything. Think about when people hug you, how your hair smells. WHen you are kissed what you smell like.
My best friends home stinks and she asked me if it did, I was honest and said yes. It wasn't until she quit, 6 months later she said she couldn't believe how bad it smelled, not to mention staining walls and smell getting into furniture, drapes and rugs. Your car stinks too.

3. Lung cancer is a terrible illness to deal with and an awful way to go.

4. The people who love you don't want you to smoke. Do it for them.

oh boy this subject gets me so much in recent years. my grandkids dad picked up his first cig at 10 and stopped when Anna was born 18 yrs ago. he didn't quit soon enough thou. he was gone in 6 months when they found the spot on his lung. he coughed for years. he was 55. i still get teary when i think of him.

my dad drank all his life up to 2 weeks before he died at 95, but never smoked.

i have a pretty strong mind, but never smoked so don't know how i would have gone thru this if I had smoked.

Hi Wiix,

I enjoy your participation here. It wouldn't be the same without you.
I don't like to see you suffering from any condition.
I hope you can find it within yourself to quit when you are ready to do so.
You, and your welfare, matter. :hug:

:grouphug:
DejaVu

I understand you. I smoked for 7 years but gave up 2 years ago and never looked back :) I tried to quit like 50 times but nothing helped. I also needed a reason to stop. But didn't find one. But I didn't see the reason why I smoked as well. So then one day I said to hell with it. You don't need the motivation to quit. You just need to understand that it's an addiction. Withdrawal lasted for a 2-4 weeks.

You just need to find something you are passionate about and you won't even think about smoking :)

Also try to read the book of Allen Carr. Easy way to stop smoking. Maybe it won't help immediately but someday you will understand those things he has written. Good luck.

I'm trying to quit too and tried all possible stuff.
My friend recommended me to try vaping. Was a little skeptical about that.
Then I looked through all possible articles and researches.
Was choosing my vaping pen **There are good reviews.
What can I say now? I definitely vape not so often as I smoked cigarettes. And it's a great achievement.
Soon I hope to give up vaping too as I feel much better.

Yep, I quit smoking cigarettes in April by switching to a vape. I lost the vape in a lake in New England in June and never looked back :)

Willyw, I used nicotine patches, starting at a fairly high dose and tapering down over some months.

This worked for me.

I smoked for over 45 years, tried quitting many times...none of which last long.

Caught the flu-from-hell in spring of 2011, woke up one morning and realized I hadn't ingested any nicotine for 72 hours, so I decided that since the crap was out of my body I would take the opportunity and make quitting permanent.

Never used tobacco again, never looked back.