After years of heavy smoking, having little will-power and making several attempts involving nicotine gum, patches--with the help of a suspect X-ray and sugar-free gum, this month I'm 4 years cigarette-free.
Don't wait to be scared half to death, decide that >you< want to quit. That's all you have to do. You can do it.
It's great to take a deep breath and not wheeze. Food tastes better. My clothes don't stink.
If you smoke and you hate it--go for it. Put them down and walk away.
Congratulations on four years smoke-free!
I have reached a point where I am confidant that I will never smoke again. Every once in a while, I have a small desire for a smoke, but I haven't had a real craving in a couple of months.
For anyone wanting/thinking about quitting, go to www.whyquit.com. For the first two weeks of my quit, I didn't visit freerepublic once and was reading www.whyquit.com for several hours a day, to constantly remind myself why I should go through the pain of quitting.
All I can say is that quitting was absolutely worth it. The first couple of weeks suck and are completely miserable - there is no denying that - but it is worth it 100 percent.
I gained a few pounds (5-10) and now having "fixed" the smoking problem, I am working on my fitness/nutrition. One step at a time!
I figure if you're gonna get cancer, you're gonna get it. If you don't get it in your lungs, you'll get it somewhere else. Cigarettes only help it along. I pretty much quit smoking after 20 years of daily smoking. Sometimes I break down and have a smoke, but its not like it was. We'll see if I end up getting cancer anyway.