Thank you, thank you, thank you! This group made a huge difference in my quit. It was 8 years ago tonight that I smoked my last cigarette. It was 8 years ago tomorrow that I found EX. Within that first week I read Allen Carr's The Easy Way to Stop Smoking, and I was off to the races. Carr at last made me understand that a) quitting would not kill me; b) smoking is just satisfying the craving you created by smoking the previous cigarette; c) (and probably the biggest one) I am not deprived because I am not smoking. Every other time I quit in the 53 years I smoked I had felt deeply deprived, like everyone who could smoke was lucky. This time I understood that I was going to go through some major changes by quitting, but I no longer envied smokers. And every single day in that first year I came to EX to celebrate, whine, celebrate again, and on and on. I wrote a blog every day for more than a year. I know I did this quit, but it certainly wasn't on my own. This community held me up when I felt like I couldn't do it. To all you newbies -- stay close. The support of the EX community is the secret sauce to your quit.
