Hey Frank, Great Job! Hang in there as for me the next few were the Hardest. Not saying it will be the same for you, just want you to stay strong and stick with it. I'm betting you will do it, so my money is on you!

Thanks!! I'm at 72.5 hours, now. For me, that third 24-hour block has always killed me.

I'm over at!

Now, to just keep right on drivin' on... Every day, I feel a little better. The body is a miraculous machine...

Got in from work and went out to eat for supper, I feel great, I'm at 120 hours!!! Today seemed easier than yesterday. The wife and I got behind a car full of teenage girls tonight, they were all flicking thier cigs out the window like they were so cool, I just wish they would listen to a person like me right now becouse that is exactly how I got started......This evening out to eat was actually with my wife at one of her work related meetings(by the way, my wife is a Nurse Practicioner)with some other doctors. I got to talking to one of the older docs there and he told me he smoked for over 20 years. Then he told me that the actually chemical craving for nicotine would go away at approximatly 2 weeks, but the mental habit could last a couple of months! I really hope this is correct.

Today I had no bad cravings of course I know the Chantix is working great! I did go cold turkey for the first 24 hours and started on the Chantix at about 36 hour point. I was sure hoping the drug store opened earlier that morning!

Let's keep it up Frank! So far this has been going better than I expected!

How excellent. The doctor is right. And the addiction to nicotine is so slight as to be unnoticeable. The way to get through this without jonesin' for the rest of your life, is to break the associations with "relaxation," "happiness," and, "peace."

SIDS: Smoking Is Death and Slavery
NOPE: Not One Puff. Ever.


Keep on rockin!! woot!

Keep working at Guys We know you can suceed.

Thank you, Greysnake! Coming up on 83 hours. w00t!

(104 NOT smoked, and $25.57 saved) Hellyeah!

RoadstarB, keep whippin' ass!

Excerpt from my blog:

"I'm resolved not to become one of those obnoxious, preachy ex-smokers. My goal is to become a non-smoker, and it's one that I've achieved.

The question and goal now, is to maintain it. It's written that one's state of consciousness must be re-won each day. For now, and probably for the first three months, it's like a rocket with the engines hammered, trying to escape the pull of gravity.

Inertia: The tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest, and the tendency of a body in motion to remain in motion. Change is a motherf'er. Changing something that has been a part of my waking life for 22 years, is even harder.

Cigarettes have punctuated everything. I've had one as soon as my eyes opened, and it was the last thing I did before closing my eyes to sleep at night. Every task I completed, every task I prepared to begin, every phone conversation, every time I was angry, sad, lonely, hungry, tired, happy, rockin' out, finished exercising (how sick is THAT?!), or spent time on the computer: All of it, punctuated with a cigarette.

It just blows my mind....

All the people I know who've beaten cocaine, heroin, or alcohol, still smoke. If smack is a monkey on peoples' backs, cigarettes are like having a Terminator robot standing on your chest, with its hooks skewered into your face..."

Your new theam song is the Eye of the tiger! Go man, go!! You've already save a full tank of gas, improved you health and the thing people hate to tell you, the way you smell. X-smoker and Non-smoker, either way, it's SMOKE FREE.

Thanks, Don. Couple o' theme songs:

Sixx A.M., "The Girl With Golden Eyes"
Sixx A.M., "Accidents Can Happen"
Survivor, "Burning Heart"
Mister Mister, "Broken Wings"
Tears For Fears, "Woman In Chains"
Lou Reed, "Heroin"

All good picks! Which ever keeps you from smoking. Maybe YOU could write one about quiting and the Terminator on you chest?

Definitely one about addiction and withdrawal... I might work on that this weekend.

There's a few other thoughts that have occurred to me:

Addiction is all about IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION. To me, I'm find it more immediately gratifying to have more money in my pocket, to be able to breathe, to feel my body cleaning itself out, to be able to taste my food, to smell the rain, freshly cut grass, and to have more energy. It's more immediately gratifying to NOT be a slave to poisoning myself every half hour. It's more immediately gratifying to not be constantly jonesin...

It's about unplugging the associations. Craves are emotional events. They are related to feelings. Feelings of relaxation, comfort, satisfying hunger, anger, sadness, loneliness, frustration, or celebrating happiness.

The key is like William S. Burroughs' novel, "Naked Lunch," "...where you wake up and see just what's on the end of everybody's forks."

SIDS: Smoking Is Death and Slavery. Period. Full-stop. There is nothing they can add that is of any benefit in any way, shape, or form.