I just talked to a guy who stopped 10 years ago and he still get's cravings its the nico demon I have been smoke free for 10months could smoke a whole carrton all at once right now totaly irrational pleasure.
Thank you for the insight. I am glad to hear that you have noticed some really wonderful benefits now that you are smoke-free. I hope with this post that you have been able to encourage some of your fellow members to either make that final step to being smoke-free or remaining smoke-free.
Thanks for this post, it was perfect for me this morning. I am really missing my morning cigarettes and your post reminded me to think of the things I enjoy in the morning that I can't do if I'm freezing my butt off outside smoking. :)
When I first quit smoking the hardest thing for me was the idea of never smoking again. I just couldn't imagine life without cigarettes; I kept feeling like nothing would ever truly be fun again without them. People would say to take it one day at a time, but my brain just kept skipping ahead to anything and everything I might look forward to and all of it sounded miserable and dull. It really made me feel helpless about the whole enterprise but I powered through because I didn't want to let my husband down.
I can't pinpoint exactly when it happened, but I realized last night that at some point that feeling went away. It was a nice cool night and my friend and I were sitting on her porch drinking red wine, which is, I'm pretty sure, the platonic ideal of a great time to smoke, and it did occur to me that it would have been pleasant to have a cigarette, but then I thought about everything I was enjoying that a cigarette would have ruined: the nice fall smell on the air, being able to sit bundled up and cozy instead of jumping all over the place, tasting all the nuances of the wine.
I do still miss smoking in a weird irrational way but now I just wish there was some magic way to smoke and still feel as good as I feel from all this working out and breathing deeply and sleeping better. And since I know there isn't, I know I'm going to choose all those other pleasures over the one pleasure of getting a nicotine fix.
