Stories and experiences by: Gebstar

I've been smoke free for two years (and a couple of days). I haven't been here since around the 9 month mark and I wanted to come back and say thank you to a community that helped me through the hardest period of quitting. I also encourage any new people here to read the experiences of your peers and share your story. Something as simple as leaving a word of encouragement on another persons po...

Today is seven months without a smoke and I must say that it snuck up on me. A colleague today asked if I still felt like having a smoke and I told them "Absolutely". However I told them I need to treat it like Heroin. They gave me a puzzled look, a look which I'm sure people reading this now have. The way I see it is if I wanted to, I could do either, I could smoke or put a needle in my a...

Whenever I would leave the house, I'd make sure that I'd have everything before going. I would say to myself "Wallet, phone, keys, smokes, lighter" They were the 5 things I needed with me at all times, everything else didn't matter. NOW, 200+ days later, I still say "Wallet, phone, keys, smokes, lighter" for the life of me I can't get out of the habit. Maybe it's a metaphor for the idea th...

I am at day 200 at the moment. In the last 100 days the focus has shifted off of my smoking and onto my overall health. It took me a long time to get into it and I am currently doing pretty well. I am on a strict diet, exercising 5 days a week and to date have lost 11 kilos. I'm getting fitter every day and I'm working towards a healthy life/image that I've only dreamed of. This isn't t...

I celebrated 6 months yesterday. I'm extremely pleased with the progress that I've made and have grown significantly over the last six months. I am not the same person that I was then and that is extremely liberating. It has encouraged me to illicit change elsewhere in my life and given me the strength to know that I can do (almost)anything.

Played golf for the first time as a non smoker. Played with a buddy who still smokes and found the experience the same. Previously I could smoke anywhere between 6-12 cigarettes over a 3-4 hour period. It was another positive association with smoking that I was concerned about how quitting will affect it. As with most things, it didn't change. I still enjoyed it, I'm still a horrible golfer an...

I've finally found the rhythm that I've always wanted to with diet and exercise. A lot of people get right into it when they quit and it took me over 5 months before I was able to get into a good routine. It's been 4 weeks of clean eating, exercising 5 days a week and lots and lots of running. I've been steadily losing 1.5kg a week and I'm determined to hit a weight that I've only dreamed abo...

Today is five months without a smoke. It's an exceptional length of time and the longest I've ever gone without a cigarette since I was 16. Sometimes I feel sad because I won't have the same "old times" like I did when I was smoking, however I remind myself that I just need to make new positive memories as a non-smoker and it will all be okay. For anyone who is starting out, be prepared for a...

At the time of writing this it is exactly 4 months smoke free. 122 days. $3,416 dollars saved. 3,050 cigarettes not smoked. 21,350 mg of tar avoided. 6kg of weight gained (oops). 2,810,880 un-laboured breaths. 32 whiter teeth. 10 unstained fingers. The title of "ex smoker". Remember everything you stand to gain by quitting and everything you stand to lose by starting again. ...

Day 113. I keep having this recurring dream where I am smoking. It's not always the exact time/place/circumstance but it's always me smoking for a bit (and it's always indoors, I NEVER smoked indoors), realising I shouldn't be smoking because I've quit and then saying "it's okay" because I've been so good in my quit attempt so far. Eventually in the dream someone comes in and I have to hide it...