As you know, I don’t smoke… but congrats go to you, jackelope. 
It must feel like a relief to get that monkey of addiction off your back!
F_X
Yep, that was me what posted that quitting thread all those moths ago. And I’ve still not had a single one since. Good on you, jackelope! If I can do it after smoking for over 20 years, so can you!
Just a little more encouragement… I have never smoked, but my father quit last year after smoking for forty years. He started when he was 13 and finally quit at 53. I am incredibly proud of him for that. So it goes to show that no matter how long you’ve been smoking, you can quit. Congrats, jackelope, keep up the good work!
I quit 2 years 8 months and 6 days ago but who’s counting? 
Good luck to you ** jackelope**!
If I made it, I’m sure you can.
AntaresJB, your father quit after 40 years?!? That’s amazing! I’d been at it for 16 years (slightly over half my life), and I keep noticing how deeply ingrained all the habits had become. I can’t imagine chucking 40 years’ worth of habit. Good for him, and for everyone else who’s shared their quitting stories here.
By the way, I realized after I’d chosen Tuesday as my last day of smoking that Tuesday also happened to be my father’s 60th birthday. I was musing on that a bit, and then I remembered that I’d also tried to quit on his 50th birthday. What a shitty waste of ten years.
Actually, everyone HATES a quitter.
Well, not quite. Only smokers hate a quitter. And even then, only if he’s one of those self-righteous pricks who wants to talk about how bad you smell because you smoke, and how he’ll pray for you when you get cancer, and blah blah blah.
I quit in '94, and have worked very hard at NOT being self-righteous about it ever since. Believe it or not, smoking around me doesn’t bother me. I figure YOUR secondhand smoke CAN’T be as bad as my old pack-a day habit.
I’m rootin’ for you, Jackelope, but I fear you’re not out of the woods yet. Although the first three days are ALWAYS the hardest. Followed by the first two weeks. And if you can hang tight for the first six months, y’r really looking like it might be permanent.
Y’see, I managed to quit no less than twelve times. Never lasted more than a month or so.
And then I got to watch Mom choke to death on her lung cancer.
Really provided me with some motivation. Between that and Nicoderm patches, '94 turned out to be the magic year…
Golly, three days and you’re already a dick. Better get 3 years or
so before you get the holier than thou attitude, quitting is easy, staying that way is entirely something else. Avoid alcohol for several months, drink lots of water and get plenty of exercise. You’ll need to replace the old habit with something new. Cravings will come and go, sometimes at the oddest moments and will never entirely go away, even years later. Smoking dreams aren’t uncommon, either.
Hell, I STILL smoke sometimes in my dreams.
No, actually I was a dick before. The difference is now I’ve added “I don’t smoke anymore” to the Official List of Reasons I Feel Superior to Others. It’s right after “I don’t go pissing all over people’s happy threads.”
LMAO
Great comeback
Good luck - just take it a day at a time.
Luckily I’ve never smoked.
My Mum used to, then I came home from school one day (after an alarmist health lesson) and told her she had to quit. She asked why, and I replied “Because you’re going to die!” and burst into tears.
She stopped immediately and has never smoked again. (That was 37 years ago!) Recently she took up line-dancing. 
My original reply here was in jest, but I think we all knew that. “Congrats and good luck” is the sentiment intended by “nobody likes a quitter.” (Sort of like “break a leg”.)
(If you start up again, god forbid, my favorite response is “I quit quitting cuz quittin’s for quitters.”)
Thanks for the link, Maureen. I have no plans on quitting in the near future, but when the next urge to quit strikes me, I will definately retain this info for ammunition to help the cause along.
And many thanks, quasi! That’s the first out-of-thread acknowledgement of any type I’ve received on the SDMB…Woo-hoo! I feel like a real live doper for the first time! (I bet somewhere someone just had a flash of insight. Of course that’s what happens whenever a new doper gets their wings.)
A fringe benefit. I had continual “chest colds.” I quit smoking about 28 years ago and haven’t had one since.
Oddly I dream that I smoke sometimes, even though I don’t and never have!
YEAH! Go Bro!
Congratulations. I found that my experience was similar - I tried to quit a few times but it didn’t work, then one day I decided “this is it” and I just knew that it was the time I would quit for real. It was a big psychological difference - the other times I thought I could smoke again someday, but when I really quit I knew it was all over.
It was hard, but so worth it. I ‘only’ smoked for about 7 years but the physical symptoms were already there. It is amazing when your senses of smell and taste fully come back, and the difference in my number of colds and how long they lasted was amazing, too. My allergies are better too.
It doesn’t bother me to be around other smokers, except now I can smell it on myself and them later.
Take care of yourself and good luck!
Guess I kinda screwed up my coding with my “Pretty Maureen” post, huh? Still wish you the best, jackelope!
Hugs
Q
Okay, so you were already a dick, and now you’re even MORE of a dick.
“Ex” smokers are amongst the most odious of creatures, I was gently suggesting you temper your newfound delusions of grandeur with a modicum of humility, as it takes most people several attempts to kick the habit - you may well never smoke again, but your attitude suggests otherwise. Good luck, though.
Well, at least we know where Tedster stands on the issue.
:rolleyes:
Hint: if someone’s about to piss in your cornflakes, move the bowl.
jackelope, congrats. Keep up the fight.
Thanks, everyone except Tedster, for the kind wishes.
Tedster, you were not “gently suggesting (I) temper (my) newfound delusions of grandeur with a modicum of humility”; you were calling me “a dick” and “the most odious of creatures.”
Was I rude to the smoker I described in the OP? Yes I was. It felt great: not to belittle someone else, but to say, “I don’t smoke.” I think he’ll survive.
Unless he gets lung cancer, in which case I think he’ll die.