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Growing up in So Cal ive always been athletic and enjoyed outdoor sports. All of them. Smoking interfered with my performance so it had to go. Successfully quit once for almost 10 years, then took a puff and was hooked again for 7 years before my final quit in Feb 2021. I own a contracting company that deals with fire protection and im sure I looked stoopid puffing on a grit I now own the fact im an addict, and I can never ever take even one puff and im good with that. Now that im smoke free im back to playing ice hockey and running triathlons at 55+ years old and in great shape & kicking butt This site is key to my quit-

I am Greg. I had some very strange health problems a year ago that lead me to finally quit 9 months later after many unsuccessful half assed attempts. The doctors never could definitely diagnose me with anything so their answer was to put me on cholesterol medication. I didn't see the point in taking medication for a condition they couldn't diagnose so they fired me as a patient and I fired them as my doctors. At that point I decided that I'm here for a good time, not a long time...but it's hard to have a good time when you're coughing, wheezing and seeing 4 or 5 of everything. (Random bouts of double or multiple vision was one of the issues I had.) So took my health in my own hands and cleaned up my diet, eventually quit smoking after 27 years and now I'm cleaning up my diet again. So far I can't complain about the progress I have had and the support from all you folks here on the train has been awesome.

Wise words Doreen. Regrets are best dealt with temporarily. Take what lessons you can from the things you regret. Then discard those regrets. Hanging on to regret is self-made trap. Making wise decisions today will go a long way in preventing future regrets.

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My name's Christian, and I've been quit for 20 years now (smoked from age 18 to age 33). Being a nonsmoker is a fundamental part of my identity, and I continue to benefit from the lessons that I learned from my quitting process. While I haven't had a craving or thought of smoking in about 18 years or so, I remain vigilant because I fear the addiction: the depth and power of my addiction (and the difficulty of those initial stages) were really unsettling and frightening to me. In addition, like many people, I have experienced the health effects of smoking: my brother died at 42 from lung cancer; my mother died at 70 from throat cancer; and I suffered a major heart attack and cardiac arrest at age 40 (my prior smoking obviously a major cause). I've devoted much of my adult life to education, and I'm an English professor at a community college. It's work that I love and that I'm privileged to do. Christian99

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This is it @AceWhite, your last monthaversary before your one year anniversary! Congratulations and I hope you have a great day!

G’day NOPE .....Not One Puff Ever.... (replace Ever with Min,Hour, Day as required)

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Congrats Ace. Have a great day

Congratulations @AceWhite!!

Congrats!

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Day 6 everyone! It was a little tough yesterday but Today is a New Day!! Breathe, meditate ,stay busy is my goal for today.

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hi everybody im 4 weeks 4 days smoke free feels great im on top off it now .bank account getting good thats another reason to quit .going shoping tomorrow going to get my new fishing rod and hope to do some winter fishing .hope your all good .as i say KEEP THE FAITH

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Good job Ace. Congratulations. Prepare the lido deck, we've got one coming in hot.

Wow !!!!......your nearly there ....how fast that went by .... Congratulations ....11 months ....we are so happy for you ..... We can see the liner with the Lido Deck making its way here .....Get ready to party

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@Doreensfreeso true...start where you are and make the most of it.

Hello to everyone on the train. My name is Tim and I had been smoking for roughly 40 years before I finally decided to quit. I quit at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. I had a roommate who was struggling with a bad case of COVID-19 which was a disease the affected your lungs. It took the fear of dying from this disease to push me over the top. So I decided on April 4th 2019 to quit smoking. I did it cold turkey and faced my biggest test 3 days later when my roommate died of COVID-19 in the hospital alone. So, it was a rough beginning to my quit but I vowed to never smoke again as a tribute to him. I am presently at 1 year and 9 months quit. So, believe in yourself and have faith. Everyone can do it.

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I had a lot of these including short of breath, insomnia and brain fog but I think the strangest one was my tongue was so sore. Come to find out it was shedding that ugly white film and the brand new pink tongue underneath was tender. With time everything settles down just like everyone promised it would so hang in there if you're dealing with any of these

Congratulations @AceWhite! One month shy of the Lido deck!

G’day NOPE .....Not One Puff Ever.... (replace Ever with Min,Hour, Day as required)

I used to sit and regret my past years of smoking ...but have learnt along the way ... We cannot change the past ...that done ....but can change our future ... Living the rest of our years as healthy and as happy the best we can ....this is my goal ...

@Kris I know you want to be the person you were. I would like to be the person I once was but he doesn't exist anymore. All that's left is this old man and no amount of cigarettes will ever bring that kid back. That's a big part of smoking. You see, when we smoke we aren't the old people we are now...no...we think we become the kid when we had our first one. But the reality is that if we accept that we NOT the cool kid because we smoke then it's much easier to not smoke. I'm still working on this but it takes time for the brain to rewire. I have found that there are a lot of other physiological functions that got hijacked by smoking that need to repair, hence the diet change and really paying attention to what my body is telling me. When all is said and done the hardest part about quitting this addiction is that nobody can do it for us. Not even for a few minutes. We have to fight this battle for ourselves. And it's the hardest grind ever. Even on the front lines of a war the enemy has to stop firing to reload which gives you a brief moment of rest, but this enemy never seems to run out of ammo. It never has to change barrels. But it does get weaker, or we get stronger or both and it's bullets have less and less impact on us. Anyway, stay strong. You will get your life back. You will make that transition from ex smoker to non smoker and so will I. I see you reaching out to everyone and letting your light shine and it's a wonderful thing to see. Don't let that light go out.

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Congratulations on a month smoke free @TONY, that's a HUGE accomplishment and I'm glad you're rewarding yourself for it I'm going to move this thread to our Celebration board where it rightfully belongs PS. Can you put your actual quit date on your profile so we know the actual date? Its definitely not two weeks ago anymore

Awesome job, @AceWhite See you on the lido deck in a month. Huge respect from me.

I'm so happy for you and Anita @Sal. I think since this is no longer an SOS we should move this to the main board so you can continue to use it as your journal without us worrying your quit is in trouble

Hang in there Sal you are doing great and get that first week behind you! Best wishes. Stay strong and close to the board.

Nearly one week Sal !!! Just for today ....we both won't smoke

@KrisI can offer platitudes but the cold hard truth is that you (and me and everyone here) are drug addicts. Stopping the substance is the first step. We have to do the hard work to uncover the reasons we became drug addicts in the first place. There are amazing support groups out there. I even found a Nicotine Anonymous website that offers zoom meetings. I am back to my 12-step program because this is something that I know keeps me sober. So even when I am frustrated and my body hurts (because we all hurt in one way or another-we are addicts), I have a way to work through it. To get to the other side. I love this site and everyone on it. But its not a 12-step program and its not therapy. You can vent and that feels good for a minute. But what feels better is getting some tools to actually help you feel better for the long term. I am responding to this. Peace to you my friend.

Popping in from the office to say to @Kris be kinder to yourself chooky. The first year is hard for many of us, some get lucky and quitting is easy, like flicking a switch....some get it really hard and it's stop start stop start very heavy slug BUT most of us fall somewhere in the middle. Every day you don't smoke you win. 1 step at a time, 1 day at a time and I promise you at least one of us here has felt exactly the same as you have at 1 stage in their quit.... you got this...trust yourself look how much you have achieved. @jillar wot can I say, Birdie is just a ditz..probably gets it from me. @Doreensfree... hoping fir a full and quick recover soon for them both. the summer storms have been wild this year, had to pull over on the freeway the other night because I couldn't see and cars were aqua planeing. Let me just say I was not comfy at all sitting in Emergency last night...I could just feel those little covid fruckers crawling all over me.

A friend of mine, he's an idiot but a good guy, sent me a link to this video for New Years. This morning I couldn't get that chorus out of my head. Novi, Novi, Novi, Novi Go-od...

That is awesome @TONY Keep up the great work!

Day 4 done. Less than 24 hrs left to next meal. There's absolutely no difference in energy etc after 4 days other than the belt is down another notch (but that is only until the next meal). Fresh fish didn't work out - the little place (and it IS little) is still closed for the holidays and opens next week. Got some fish from another place but it's not the same. The 1st meal after a long fast is usually a bit of a disappointment. You're looking forward to it a lot but the stomach can't really food. So you avoid eating all the things you REALLY want to eat and stay with safe (uninteresting) stuff that day and allow the stomach to get used to eating again. If the body is so comfortable with not eating 5 days, you have to wonder what is the limit. Perhaps I'll try 6 days in Apr. Ok, can't resist saying this again ... I'll eat tomorrow - feels like such a big thing

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Hey guys, I’m Kenzie & this is my second time quitting and returning to this site. I’m 27, and started smoking when I was 14. I’m from Texas! I quit smoking again 12/12/2021. I log in here everyday and kind of creep around when I’m feeling like I want to smoke, and it really does help! Plus it’s comforting to know I could SOS and have so many awesome people to help.

The smoothest of the smooth jams. On Boo's Buttery Goodness Chart, Easy gets five-out-of-five sticks of butter.