Nicotine doesn't rule ME anymore. I had 3 tough weeks, in my case. I quit cold turkey. Freaked out on day 7 and searched and found the hated vape pen and it worked and I puffed on it. Came to my senses, threw it out. I always feel that I have to admit to that, or I'm not being completely honest. I wanted so badly to quit that I wasn't gonna let that moment stop or define me. First 2.5 days were easy for me, not so much after that. I did cut down to 3 cigs a few days before I set my quit date. What started this journey, was making the decision that I needed to cut back for a few days, so my mouth surgery could heal. That's when I found out who ruled my life, and it wasn't ME. Nicotine told me what to do and think, and that realization finally bothered me. Still had no desire to quit, so I went to God in prayer and found the will. I threw myself in to quitting, is how I describe it. Watched every dirty lung video I could find, because I was gonna need alot of fuel to stay motivated and not talk myself out of quitting. That's the condensed version of my story. I had to make some pretty big changes to get to this place; not hanging out with my smoking buddies like normal, at least not initially. Also, I have limited my alcohol consumption, since I blamed alcohol for losing a 17 yr quit (I was also going through some personal difficulties). I had resigned myself to being a smoker for the rest of my life because I just couldn't see my way out of the smoke. My happiness over quitting didn't come right away, even at the 3 week mark when the worst of my cravings were over, and I was really surprised by that. I was a couple mos in when that happened, I think. Now, I am in a good place. Start of this year, I started being active, walking, aerobics, regularly. Getting healthier, day by day.
