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I’m so very sorry for your loss. You have been doing a wonderful job fighting through these triggers you’ve had to endure. Keep fighting.

Well said @DenaliBlues Expressing these realizations could only help your healing progress and because you shared them they will help so many others.

Lighting up and taking a drag off of a cigarette requires forethought and deliberate actions. You choose to do it. No way it could be classified as a slip up. Definite relapse. And then you have to go through quitting all over again. Never doing that again. Can’t. NOPE!

Three years is great Yoda! I’m sure thankful that you were a huge part of my quit! Congratulations!

This is great news! I’m excited for you. Thanks for updating us.

Congratulations Doreen! 11 years!!! So thankful for you. You helped me so much when I joined this site and you’ve consistently done the same for so many others. You are a treasure!

Amazing! Congratulations @Mee

Congratulations! 8 years is amazing!

Way to go @tocevoD! Keep it up! Enjoy your time with your son. Keep busy.

Those are really good! I have a daughter that would love a couple of those.

Congratulations to you! This is amazing. Welcome to the Lido Deck!

I don’t know what sports you are involved in @Sportsfan66, but it doesn’t really matter. You have an opponent. Even if it’s your own stats you’re going against. You prepare. Get your mind in the game. Consider all information available on opponent. Develop strategies. Provide for upsets. Implement the plan. Step out onto the playing field and do battle. Every. Day. It’s what recovering addicts do. You have a whole team here for support. Experience? We’ve all been through it. Suffering defeat and sometimes, I swear with nicotine(?), suffering victories. But total victory can be had. Reach out and talk our ears off. It helps. It helps you, us(your team), and others who come to scout out our forum. Something you experience can be the assist someone else was needing. Welcome aboard and I hope to see you around.

Congratulations Paul! 11 years is amazing!

It is good to hear from you @LoriB. You are doing great. Keep working through those triggers. Keep your head up and a smile on your face because you have so much to be proud of. You are overcoming an addiction. So many people never even try, but look at you! Kicking that Nicodemon’s butt to the curb.

Keep that quit, @Dejvis93! You are kicking that old Nicodemon’s butt!

Kate. With all the tenacity of a…honey badger! Seriously. Move forward! You’ve got this. I’ll be thinking of you.

Congratulations Nancy! Amazing! I’ll never forget all of the support you gave me in my initial quit and I am so thankful you are still here to assist me and others when and if needed.

Yikes! I have a sister. Well, y’all wouldn’t believe it. The amount of cigarette butts in her car alone. Always. Ever since she owned her first vehicle. We live in Georgia. High heat and humidity. I detest having to ride in her vehicle, but sometimes necessary. The odor is horrific. I have NEVER considered that all of those butts were still emitting death. I seriously need to mask up while traveling with her. She suffers horribly from COPD. Tobacco companies really put a lot of thought into what their products actually consist of, don’t they?

Congratulations @StruggleDaily. Keep at it. 40 days is an awesome quit. My breakthrough came when that struggle going on in my brain had a new player step in and she was angry. She kind of slapped the ‘I’m in here forever Nicodemon’ and the ‘oh look at me, NOT SMOKING, vainglorious me’ around a little. Took control, put my foot down, and drew a line. Serious and sober minded. You really are on your way. 40+ days of being able to say, “I don’t smoke.” “I’m a non smoker.” Whoop, Whoop! I’m smiling! I bet you are too!

That video is so very, very sad @Christian99 and I’m sorry that your brothers death was so hard and terrible. My husbands death was the same although his cancer was not smoking related.

Yeah, I think the anger this would cause someone would just fuel the need for another cigarette. I don’t know. While the ultimate responsibility for our smoking lies with us, Big T definitely should be held accountable for engineering their product to keep us hooked. I also think that a certain number of nicotine addicts would band together and start some kind of revolution. But most books and Hollywood almost always portray revolutionists as smokers. HaHa NOT funny really. Just an aspect of the Big T’s web.

Same with me. I guess, as with any addiction, the addict has to reach their own personal ‘rock bottom’.

Sorry I’m so late in welcoming you aboard, @LoriB. You have done such a great thing for yourself in quitting smoking and vaping. I’m sorry about the upcoming layoff. Scary and stressful I know. It’s great that your brother-in-law referred you to us as this site and it’s great members can help you along in building a good solid foundation. How are you getting along?

I recently saw this CDC anti-smoking campaign ad and it really hit me hard. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It struck me that had I seen this before I quit smoking it wouldn’t have convinced me to quit. I would have watched it as I would a horror film, probably lighting up as soon as it was over and going on about my day, my way, as an addict. The one truth I’ve learned during my own quit and from other’s stories is that your quit has to be your decision and for you. Nothing anyone says or does will cause you to put those smokes down once and for all. It’s got to come from within. It’s got to be you. My fear is in what way the effects of all those years of smoking are going to show up. Will it be my teeth, jaw, heart, lungs, feet, and/or etc., etc? It’s coming, eventually. I know it. It has to. I just hope that I can draw on the strength it took for me to quit to see me through any complications that arise. All in all, I’m thankful there are Stop Smoking campaigns out there. If they can give a smoker pause to consider exactly what they are doing to themselves and what they can expect in the future soberly enough to try quitting for good then they are worth it. So if you are here reading this and wanting to quit look these ads up. Listen to their stories, read the stories posted on this forum. They help. They help so much. But ultimately it’s you. Just you, the addict and the substance of your addiction. And yes, there is victory to be had. You just have to fight for it.

Congratulations Stew on your 11 month quit! See you on the Lido Deck next month!