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Waste not want not

I have not smoked now for 2 and 1/2 years. I used to smoke up to 60 tailormades a day, but had to quit when I was hospitalized with a heart condition. Before I went into hospital, I had put my cigarettes (I had almost two full fifty packs) aside. When I got out after about a month and returned home, I threw these packs into a desk drawer. Later I put them inside a high cupboard I rarely look inside.
I told myself I had not "Given up smoking." Rather I had chosen not to smoke, but in case I ever wanted a cigarette, I still had two packs of them. Indeed I still have them. Waste not want not. When I did feel like one on occasion for a few months, I would look at the first two fingers and thumb of my left hand, and tell myself I never again wanted to see them stained with "Tar." Now I have no craving whatever for cigarettes.
I admit to being surprised by the number of people who have told me they stopped smoking in exactly the same way and kept their cigarettes/tobacco; some doing the same as I did and still keeping these things.
I also used to drink to excess but I dealt with that by deciding to drink only very seldom. Now I find I can drink three bottles of whisky per year, about one bottle on each of three nights. Even if my mate buys a bottle of whisky which he does on occasion, if it isn't one of my three evenings I find I can look at the stuff as though it were no more than coloured water.
Even though I used to enjoy a smoke when I drank alcohol regularly, I find that's not a problem now that I've stopped smoking.
In conclusion, if quitting smoking were really as hard as some have said it is, no one would ever have done it; it would be the same as squaring the circle or achieving perpetual motion. The reality is that people quit every day, and, as with most addictions, 80% do so without any outside help whatsoever. If I can quit, anyone can!

That's such an achievement bandicoot, well done . Only 34 days for me but feeling good and very positive. All the best

great story. i'm a serial quitter and have done the thing with putting the tobacco in the glove box and not caring for one much, that was good and i think it is about being happy to make the choice to quit rather than it being punishment (i have been seeing it as a deprival lately, so altering how i look at it will help) thanks. Hope the health has improved as a reward for making that decision Bandicoot. all the best.