Someone told me when I quit smoking (8 years ago, smoked 10 years 2 packs a day), that 7th year is the hardest, it gets easier after that. And he was right. You'll see the first week is pretty bad, but after that the physical withdrawal symptoms are pretty much done. It's the habit, that takes years to get rid of. After a few weeks it's so easy to come up with excuses why to smoke. You don't need the nicotine, you need the break. When you learn how to control that, it gets very easy.
Even after a few years I sometimes came up with a weird craving. I was thinking "heck, I can have one, I've been without a cigarette for years so what bad can one cigarette do". That's the worst thing you can do. After a week or so, you're clear of the actual physical withdrawal symptoms. It's the habit that takes years to get rid of.
Great thread. Quitting smoking is the best thing you will ever do.
I smoked from age 14 to 28, after growing up in a household with two chain smoking parents. Basically, my first 28 years were in a cloud of tobacco smoke. I was at 2.5 packs per day by the time I was 25.
I quit when my wife's father died of lung cancer at age 54. To watch this man whither down to 85 pounds over the course of a year was quite an eye-opener for me, and I decided that I didn't want to die that way.
So, on New Year's Day 1986, I quit smoking, cold turkey.
I'd like to say it was easy. It was not. In fact, it was probably the hardest thing I ever did. I punched walls. I went to the gym. I didn't tell anyone, because I didn't want anyone to know I had failed.
After 3 days, the physical cravings were gone. The mental game continued for months, with rituals being the problem. Driving had always meant having a smoke. Coffee was better with a smoke. Beer was better with a smoke. EVERYTHING was better with a smoke, and to continue to do those things without the smoke was incredibly hard.
That was 30 years ago, now, and I've never had a single smoke since. Incredibly, I still crave cigarettes once in a while. I still dream about smoking occasionally, and wake up feeling guilty because I think I really smoked. It's just a wicked, awful, terrible addiction that is incredibly difficult to quit, supposedly harder than cocaine.
But, wow, is quitting worth it. Just the money alone that I've saved over the last 30 years probably bought at least one of my airplanes. And my health? I am 58 years old and have never -- not once -- missed a day of work.
Keep at it, young man. You will never do anything better for yourself.
Oh, and by the way: The people who think you can't be addicted at age 21 have clearly never been addicted to anything. I was hopelessly addicted to cigarettes by age 16.
