Late as usual but here's my story. I was fresh out of catholic school heading into Junior high.....back when we had junior high NOT middle school. I wanted to be accepted by the right crowd but I was so shy I had a hard time making friends at all! I would walk by our town's park and see all the "cool" people hanging out smoking (not just tobacco) and drinking and looking like they were having a lot of fun. That's where I wanted to be....those were the people I wanted in my life. Youth doesn't always make the right decisions but it's where my head was at! My first butt made me cough like crazy! But it was a cool cough gosh darn it! Thus started my 35 year on again off again relationship with the butts. I quit once for almost a year when I lived in California. But once I moved back to MN I started up like I never quit at all! It wasn't until my little sister suddently passed away last August that the thought of quitting really came back with a vengence. It was constantly on my mind every time I lit up that this is what helped KILL my little sister....I need to stop before it kills me. Of course, I waited for the planets to be perfectly aligned and all holidays should be out of the way and what other stressors can i wait for? It was seeing my cat being surrounded by tendrils of MY cigarette smoke and those same tendrils of smoke wafting over to my never smoked hubby that finally sealed the deal for me. I am sentencing those I love the most to a horrible existence!!! Who am i to do something like that to anyone? So the germ of quitting started. I built it up in my mind that I would be a quitter and I used it as a mantra to help me over the hard times...I am a quitter! I wasn't real mad about my quit either as I knew what I was doing was right....not just for those I love but for me!! Jan 1 of this year was my first step and I haven't looked back since. It's the best thing I've ever done and I am happier because of it. Yes, James is NOT the only happy quitter here! It has now been 135 days moke free days for me by not smoking 2402 butts and saving myself $631.40 in the process. I may not actually have all that savings on hand but I have a much better quality of life to enjoy!!!
