::Poised to take photograph as Wartime Consigliori and MsRobyn have a Big Hug 
23 (and counting) smokefree days for me. These last few days have been better - although I was out of town so that made it easier I think. It is so nice not to have to worry about when I would be able to have another cigarette all the time! I agree with Francesca - it is exactly like being chained to something. For the last ten years my last thought before walking out the door has been “do I have my cigarettes?” I still catch myself thinking it. But now I can smile about it. I went out of town last week and for the first time I didn’t have to make sure I had enough packs to get through the trip. Wonderful!
I didn’t take my parents offer of $500 for quitting - then having to pay them $1000 if I start back. Just decided that it was too much pressure.
Hang in there everybody!
Check with your local hospital for the American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking® group support clinic.
Most hospitals offer this program to the community for a nominal fee. I’ve was involved with them some years ago (I used to teach it), and some of their programs have a very high success rate, varying from hospital to hospital.
The theory is that it took you many years to learn to be a smoker, and they teach you how to become an ex-smoker. It helps not to have to quit alone, but with a group who really feels your pain.
In the mean time, keep your chin up. It’s never too late to make a difference in your life!
I smoked my last this year on Feb. 22. I quit by deciding I would rather have a nice new truck than smoke. SO I dropped a 22 yr 3 to 5 pack a day habit. And saved enough dough to buy a new truck, assuming I don’t start again.
Not a moment of my life goes by that I don’t crave a butt. I was in a diner this AM having breakfast, and next to me sat a guy, smoking MY BRAND. Finished his coffee, lit a fresh butt, paid his tab, forgot to come back and collect his freshly lit smoke. I sat eating my breakfast the whole time watching that yummy, tasty cigarrette burn down to the filter. It was bloody hard.
I feel like the cravings are getting less powerful, but I know that if I so much as light one up it’ll be back to 3-5 packs a day in ten seconds flat.
So I enjoy my truck. Best of luck to all you out there, and I totally sympathise. Bad enough having to pay cash for something dangerous and unhealthy that you burn and throw away, but to be made a social leper for it and have people be unsympathetic with your plight is torture.
b.
I think I was addicted (mentally) after the first one. And I didn’t start until I was 19. Interesting about the support group though - thats kind of what I’ve been getting from SDMB.
Night time is the worst time for my cravings… HELP, I need help…
Must… NOT… Smoke…
I started smoking… um… well, it was a long time ago. Wait! It wasn’t THAT long ago… uh… ok, I was 12 or so. I’m now significantly older than 12. WAIT… not THAT much older! Oh, you get the idea! 
…
Anyway, I worked my way up to at least two packs a day. Last summer, I asked my doctor to prescribe Zyban. He did. I didn’t quit; I simply stared at the pills every week or so. Finally, late in September, I decided that I should quit. Someone very dear to me was recovering from cancer and I decided to quit as a symbolic show of support, I guess. (Oh, and btw, it WORKED! The cancer has gone to hell and his prognosis is wonderful.)
…
Anyway, on October 6, 2000 at 6:03 PM EST, I snuffed out my last cigarette. I haven’t smoked since. I have tons of extra money now for clothes, and I think I’m gonna buy a new VW Beetle this week. Oh, and Yoga helps a LOT. I wish I’d discovered Yoga before I quit; things would have been sooooooooo much easier!
…
Hang in there, everybody. Truly – if I can do it, you can! I’m a spoiled brat who is used to getting her way and not used to suffering, but the benefits of not smoking outweigh my addiction, I guess.
…
Oh, and yes, I crave a cigarette every day. Cut straws in half and chew/suck on them. I have them all over the house and in my purse. I haven’t ever “smoked” my straws at work though, cuz it’d be difficult to explain that to my li’l “clients.”
…
Good luck and pleasant breathing. 
Oh, and gum!!! Chew *gum[b/]!!! Gum is much tastier than Winstons! (OK, I’d rather have a Winston, but gum is helping me through this! Think about all those rich tobacco dudes; that helped me too. Those **$)#(!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Oh, and WRINKLES! Smoking is bad for your face. Oh yeah: WHITE TEETH! I’ve never seen my dentist happier!)
…
Keep pluggin’ along. I’m sending the best of vibes to everybody who has quit and some extra heavy duty vibes to those who have just begun.
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Friends, and I am better for it. Thank you, MsRobyn.
I hope everybody is not discouraged by “You Will Always Think Of Smoking” comments I have seen on this thread. Weekends at the bar are tough for those who no longer smoke. What I did was take a couple of Swisher Sweet cigarillios with me when I went out drinking. I chewed on them, gestured with them, and basically treated them as cigarettes; however, I did not light them. I still keep a couple of fresh ones around in case I’m ever tempted.
If you are trying to quit smoking, please stay with it. If you fall, get back up as soon as you can.
Look at it like this: **The smartest, coolest, hippest people in the world **(minus a dipstick or two)are on the SDMB. The world needs you in the fight against ignorance. When you purchase cigarettes, you are essentially giving your money to a corporation that is selling a suicide machine.
We need you here, fighting ignorance. Go Team!
WC, that was inspiring
It’s Monday morning and i’m feeling good. I actually am feeling like i don’t need nicotine now. It’s been eleven days. I know i’m going to have to watch my eating this week but i think i can do it.
Callie i know what you mean about nights being the worst - i can be fine all day but when it comes to late evening or bedtime that’s when it’s really hard. I haven’t come up with any solution except to sit tight until it passes because it will pass.
Billy sorry to hear it’s been so hard but that’s a damn impressive quit you’ve got there. You officially have the willpower of an ox.
You have the nail firmly hammered on the head there man. Congratulations.
Arden what are you being bribed with? intrigued.
Fran
Uhhh… umm… how to say…
That about covers it.
Keep it up, callie! Don’t get erased from my crush list – I’m gonna need a non-smoking environment for Augusta next year.
Francesca, Arden, great show. How’s everyone else doing?
I did OK. I had some pretty strong cravings, but on the upside, I started to do things that ex-smokers do. I bought a tooth-whitening kit, did some exercise, purged my house of ashtrays, etc.
This time I’m really going to quit.
[Edited by manhattan on 04-23-2001 at 08:38 AM]
Well, I’ve made it for 14 days. And rather than let you all in on my extremely crabby mood, I’ll just leave it at that.
I will try not to sound like a putz, but there’s something I’ve just gotta say…
To be a successful non-smoker, sooner or later you are going to have to start acting like one. By spending too much time dwelling on the subject, you are enabling yourself to go astray. It’s OK to lean on each other during the first few days, but don’t let someone else’s failure justify yours. Non-smokers don’t spend time in threads like this. The sooner you modify your behavior to that of a non-smoker, the sooner you will find success.
The odds are stacked against you. Quitting is the hardest thing you will ever do. Many of you will “slip”. If that’s going to happen, let it happen on your own terms, not someone elses. Keep trying. Don’t give up. It will get easier. I am pulling for every single one of you.
Now, feel free to give me your best nicotine deprived flame. Send me the most vile e-mail you can write. I asked for it, you have proof. Fire away.
I do get what you’re saying and it’s a fair enough viewpoint, but from where i’m standing it’s taking a large amount of concentration to not smoke and since it’s something that’s knocking on the edge (and occasionally slap bang in the middle) of my conciousness, i do think it’s good to be able to get it out. I certainly don’t want to be still banging on about it in a month’s time, but at the moment it’s pretty much impossible to forget about it.
The other advantage to a thread like this is having someone/thing to be responsible to - by making the fact that you’re quitting public it can seem more real and also could just be that little extra motivation not to give up just yet because if you do then you have to “own up”, not a thing to be happy about. That’s what it does for me, anyway.
Fran
PS Still going stong. Hurrah.
Nah, E, no flames. It’s all good. You’re right in a certain sense – everyone has to quit in his/her own way, and eventually that means “having quit” as opposed to “quitting.”
This is actually something of a different approach for me. I’m something of a loner by nature. I do most things in my life alone, and I like it that way. In fact, it only occurred to me last week that it might make sense to get a back seat for my coming birthday present to myself, and only then because my bartender made me promise to take her for a ride.
But I’ve tried to quit alone before and failed miserably on more than one occasion. This time, I’m going to try it with my virtual and real friends as support. I have every confidence that there are other SDMB members who are trying to quit who are not participating in this thread precisely because dwelling on it is not what’s right for them. That’s all good, too.
Whatever works is the right approach.
And I haven’t wanted to deck anybody at all today.
Well, I won’t speak for everyone activly quitting in this thread but I feel like I really need it. It hasn’t been a month yet for me and this thread (along with some others) helps me remember why I quit. Also, it gives me strength to not smoke - (I come here mostly when I really really want to smoke). I don’t feel like it would give me an excuse to fail just because others might have. The other day I nearly had myself convinced that I hadn’t actually been addicted to cigarettes for the last 10 years therefore it wouldn’t really matter if I continued to smoke. Duh. This thread has helped me to keep these thoughts in perspective - realizing that others struggle with this addiction too - to the point of obsession occasionally. Who’s to be the judge of how long one persons obsession should last? Right now - I’m taking it hour by hour - and if this place helps -then so be it.
But thanks for your thoughts Equality 7-2521.
Day 24! It is/was a hard one. Right now is kind of rough but I’m too lazy to go to the store to buy some. See mom - sometimes laziness can be a good thing.
Hope everyone is hanging in there.
I was looking back through the thread and realised something: I DID replace smoking with another habit- whenever I wanted/needed a smoke I played a game of FreeCell on my Palm Pilot. I have done this approximately since I quit, and I only just now realised it- I have played the games seed by seed beginning with #1, and I’m up to 18,000 something now. My lungs are really happy those were games of Freecell and not smokes…
Best of luck to all. I hope this takes for good, I’m liking the “being able to breathe and smell things” aspect a LOT.
b.
How’s everybody doing? Keeping the faith, or the resolve, or whatever turns you on? I’m still rooting for ya.
Well, I just threw away my fourth pen because I chewed it up too much. Does that count?