I had my last cigarette on the 26 July 2014 after smoking 30-a-day for 40 years.
I never attempted to quit smoking in the past because I was so afraid of failure. The hardest part was to make the decision to quit, and initially I thought, my day starts with a cup of coffee and two cigarettes, this will be impossible. Well, no it wasn't. I decided to quit at 1pm. I quit cold turkey the very next day.
Looking back, I feel I did the psychological aspects of quitting smoking rather easy, it was more of what I like to call 'symptoms of recovery' which is what I found the hardest.
Insomnia was something I got bad, and the inability to concentrate for long periods of time. I guess what I am trying to say here is, learn what to expect as your body adjusts to not having the 4000 chemicals found in cigarettes.
Maybe because I was such a heavy smoker and smoked for so long I experienced a number of symptoms as my body adjusted. The one thing that I would like to share with you is, no matter what symptom or side effect I experienced, none of them lasted for too long and they were all bearable.
I also downloaded an app for my phone to track days and money saved etc. For me, it took just over 12 months to accumulate $10,000 from not buying cigarettes. In my opinion, if you have the self-belief and determination, you can quit smoking.
Fifteen months later and, yes, I still get the occasional craving which generally makes me smile as it is my reminder of the strong addiction that smoking is. I wish you all the very best of luck on your own quit journey.
