Not quite half a year - but 20 weeks seems worth celebrating. I have been through an incredibly challenging time over the past four-six weeks and there have been so many friends who have said (with love and kindness), 'I wouldn't blame you for smoking'. One day, just before Christmas, after having spent 10 hours, supporting my family, in Emergency at the hospital, I told myself that it would be fine for me to smoke if I needed to. Fact is, I didb't need to. We will always need to deal with stress, to deal with immense grief and horrible anxiety. Now that we have chosen to quit, we need to acknowledge that it is all awful but a cigarette is not going to change that. I didn't choose to smoke.
Now, I walk whenever I can to try and alleviate stress and, at night , I often have a glass or two or red wine to calm down.
At twenty weeks, I have no physical cravings for a cigarette - I just occasionally miss sitting out on the verandah, a glass of wine in hand and a ciggie on the go. That feeling of missing lasts about a minute and then, having resisted temptation, I can glow in the achievement of flicking the fags.
Thanks to everyone on this site who has been so supportive. People here generally empathise more than the people in my day-to-day world.
Good luck to everyone embarking on the early stages of the journey - it really is worth sticking at it. I just keep crossing my fingers that I will stay on track.