Twelve Fabulous Years of Freedom

[Sazerac]

Hello darling nicotine free creatures and those ready to be free.

 

My anniversary...how many years? Twelve maybe.

Forgotten as years of freedom expand

but surely remember those first seconds that lasted forever

turning begrudgingly into minutes before the next crave wave would hit.

Craves did not capture me. I held my ground.

But honestly, gave this, my quitting 'experiment' a year.

If I didn't feel better after a year, I could always go back to smoking.

 

Never would have surfaced sans nicotine 

had I not begun to learn about addiction,

what addiction does, how to circumvent brain patterns. 

Information available on this site and others,

Joel Spitzer's straightforward videos taking the voodoo out of it. 

 

I read voraciously as my understandings emerged as a reliable personal strength, 

learning what was going on in my brain, how to change.

How to jump start clean endorphins by rewarding myself with joyous thoughts, sights, things.

Life lessons applicable to many varied situations. 

I knew I would not smoke anymore; I broke the chains.

 

After a year of nicotine free lurking, 

I joined QTrain to thank all the people that helped me unknowingly

and pointed me towards needed materials. 

Being part of the community was rewarding, 

I count many as friends and think I helped some. 

Certainly, flooded the train with posts, sharing more information I drudged up.

 

For newbies or those lurking,

remember that freedom from addiction is well within your power.

Yes, there will be gnarly times, but these will not kill you.

Smoking will.

And if not kill, make your living a slow breathless dying 

and for what? 

for greasing the pockets of corporations leaving your families bereaved?

for indulging an addiction that robs you of Living?

WTF ?

You pay, if not with your life than with the quality of your life, the quality of your death!

Those things are beastly HARD. 

 

But you know that, we all know that... some of you are ridden with guilt over it.

STOP IT PLEASE!

My purpose in this note is to inspire you to quit and hold on to your resolve

because I KNOW your freedom is within your power.

You CAN. You WILL.

 

Beating addiction is temporarily difficult

and profoundly rewarding in short time. 

Short Time.

So, read up. Educate yourself. Know you are not alone.

Realize you can choose Freedom in every breath, every day

and bask in gratitude that you chose Life. 

Your Life.

 

I smile about, my experiment in quitting for a year to see how I liked it.

It is the best thing I have done for myself, hands down.

There will be no going back as NOPE etches deeper into my grey matter.

NOPE.

Not One Puff. EVER.

Never ever Never.

[johnny5]

Congratulations @Sazerac  Nice to see you around.

 

[Cbdave]

Gday

You know you deserve this! Congratulations

[DenaliBlues]

Thanks for these good words… and happy anniversary! 

[Paul723]

Congratulations on your twelve years of freedom!  

[Doreensfree]

Huge congratulations Sister

12 years is a massive milestone 

Thank you for your wonderful honest post 

[Reciprocity]

Nice one @Sazerac (Big Easy )

[QuittingGirl]

Congratulations @Sazerac 12 years is amazing!!! 

 

[Sazerac]

On 10/22/2025 at 3:03 PM, johnny5 said:

Congratulations @Sazerac  Nice to see you around.

 

Thank you so much, Johnny. Very nice to see you here, you've always been stalwart support for which I am very grateful. S

On 10/22/2025 at 8:19 PM, Cbdave said:

Gday

You know you deserve this! Congratulations

 

Thank you so much Cbdave! We all deserve rewards for fighting the addiction.

[Sazerac]

On 10/22/2025 at 10:17 PM, DenaliBlues said:

Thanks for these good words… and happy anniversary! 

Thank you SO much, Denali

and congratulations on your quit. 

Stay on the good foot, girleen. xx

On 10/23/2025 at 9:42 AM, Paul723 said:

Congratulations on your twelve years of freedom!  

Thank you, Paul.

Hope you are well and cooking up delights.

 

[Sazerac]

22 hours ago, Doreensfree said:

Huge congratulations Sister

12 years is a massive milestone 

Thank you for your wonderful honest post 

Doreen! My beloved Smut Sister.

Thank you for everything you do, you make a huge difference.

Please take good care of your sweet self.

22 hours ago, Doreensfree said:

Huge congratulations Sister

12 years is a massive milestone 

Thank you for your wonderful honest post 

Reci! Very nice to see you. Thank you for well wishes and congrats on your quit also.

[Sazerac]

17 hours ago, QuittingGirl said:

Congratulations @Sazerac 12 years is amazing!!! 

 

Quitting Girl! Thank you for the celebrations and so happy you are here herding the cats AND keeping your precious quit. 

[Sazerac]

Thank you for all the good wishes.

I was dismissing rewarding myself,

well, you know...after 12 years...

but, splurged and bought myself a rug I've been lusting after.

Now, I have a concrete reminder of my accomplishment.

Y'all, please remember to reward yourself, to mark all dates important to you.

At the beginning, I rewarded myself minute to minute by stashing the money I would have spent smoking

and with little things that made me happy, like a sit in the sun or listening to a piece of music, wetting my brushes.

These rewards are super important to re-enforce your quit with healthy driven endorphins.

Thanks again to everyone here.

S