Just ban cigarettes already. Please.

[99Forever]

79. I was, where you are at.

Didn't much care to hear from the "smoking N*zis" myself. Told myself that "I'll show them" by firing one up just to spite them. I won't for a second get self righteous or smug, because I KNOW just what a grip smoking held on me. Made giving up other bad habits into child's play by comparison. I lost count of how many times I tried to give it up and failed. I hear you when you say that hearing "Well just quit" angers you. Sure did me too.

Then I realized something, having a smoke to show "them" my anger, was hurting and costing me a heck of a lot more than it ever did "them." "They" didn't wake up coughing every morning. "They" didn't have to figure out how to come up with the $3 or $4 a pack to keep me supplied. "They" didn't have to stand out in the cold like an outcast to feed my habit. And on and on. All of the negative stuff fell on me, not "them."

One thing I found out, (much to my own consternation) is that the only way to quit smoking, is to just do it. With or without an aid. It's that harsh bit of reality I hadn't been ready to accept, that I finally did, that once and for all, got me over the hump.

That's was just over 5 years ago. I still get "the urge" from time to time, tho less often as time passes. When I do, all I need do is remember just how difficult the battle to give up smoking was and it's a no-brainer for me.

Good luck to you and here's hoping you can break free too.