Who remembers, or knows what it's like to need a cig first thing in the morning?

[The Doctor.]

I do for the most part, even though I wasn't as bad as my friends were. I had to have one within 20 minutes of waking... to get my nic fix, pop up the ol' blood pressure and dopamine levels, and God forbid I'd try to have coffee without one.

Well, it's been almost 17 years since I quit, and I can say that I'm much happier when I don't need it.

Kudos to all who've made it past the 14-90 day crucible.


Isn't it GREAT to wake up and not need it to function?

[Alameda]

1. I remember and , yes it is great to wake up and not need it !

[Mira]

2. It was lit before my feet hit the floor. I smoked it while the coffee dripped.

To those who are quitting:
It is not supposed to be easy, or more would succeed.
There will come a day when it is noon and you realize that you have not thought of a cigarette yet.
That is the day when you can begin to believe that there is a better life after cigarette addiction.

Quit date here 5/5/1998

I made up my mind and used Cyban.
It works when you decide to work it.

[Mari333]

3. well i have been smoke free for 3 months

but i wake up now grabbing for the gum, and the coffee...still better then the cigs, of course. maybe after a yr or so i wont think about it. when i see people smoking now i think, well, they smoke, i dont. but i still think about the morning smoke....in time, i know i wont.

[david13]

4. I used to wake up and THINK I needed it. When I changed my

thinking, to realize that I only thought I needed it, and realized what I needed was good health, poof.
Like magic. When I stopped thinking that cigarettes were good, or tasted good, or did some good thing for me, and realized and accepted and thought that they were just poison, poof.
Like magic.
When I realized that cigarettes did not relax me, but made me more tense, poof.
When I began to accept life on life's terms, rather than smoking at it, poof.
The whole thing began to turn around.
Now 24 years later, I realize I hate those things. I can't understand how anyone can want to suck on poison.
I had a disease of the mind and body that made me think cigarettes were a good thing, and right for me.
Fortunately, I found the cure.
dc

[oldironside]

6. I agree totally with this.

I was a fifty a day man for more years than I like to think of. I used to have to have three cigarettes in the ashtray next to the bed in case I woke up in the night. Ugh. I read Alan Carr and, as you say, just changed my thinking. It's as difficult or easy as you want it to be. Of course, I don't want to diminish anyone else's efforts. I know it can be hell if you've got the wrong mindset.

[Gore1FL]

5. Not any more

Once I accepted I already smoke my last cigarette, it didn't matter anymore.

[myrna minx]

7. The first was my most important of the day, so I was surprised when I didn't need it any more.

Even before my eyes were completely open, I would be puffing away. It's been five months quit for me, and now it seems strange that I was such a willing hostage to my cigs. I'm so happy to be free.

[Mira]

8. To answer you question. I remember it very well.

I lit up before my feet hit the floor, after smelling the filthy ashtray in my sleep from where i had put out the last one for the day before shutting off the light.

No, I'm not kidding.

I finally managed to stop on the 5th of May 1998. Otherwise I feel quite certain I would be dead or deathly ill by now.