How I did it: I had tried a bunch of times, and every time I learned a little more about my addiction and my weaknesses.

I finally quit almost 5 years ago, once and for all. A couple of years ago, my mom  -- a heavy smoker -- went on oxygen and her life has permanently changed. She doesn't have the energy to walk across the room, she can only watch TV now, that's her whole life. I'm so glad that I quit!

Lessons & tips: First week is 'hell week.' Try to sleep a lot.
Second week is 'heck week.' Just keep reminding yourself that you're doing great, and you never want to live through that first week again -- if you smoke now, you wasted all that torture!!

After that, I promise it just keeps getting easier.
I used the patch. The first time I used it i was disappointed, it didn't
help as much as I wanted it to. But the second time, I knew that it
would only take the edge off and help a little -- the more reasonable
expectation helped.

learned that my addiction would always try to talk me into
*just one* cigarette, giving me reasons why I needed/deserved it, but
there would always be a reason to have one more. I learned I couldn't
quit until I didn't smoke that one, even when I really really wanted it.

Resources: I LOVE www.quitnet.com

The patch also helped me

But mostly you have to look inside.

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Jan 04, 2009, 10:06PM PST | 1 comment | 2 cheers