It's so hard to believe that i now have 11 years without smoking, i passed my father who had stopped smoking and had ten years in without  smoking before he passed away i only wish he was here with me to see how i have done, it wasn't easy i had many attempts before i made it clear that i was done with smoking. I am proud of myself for this huge accomplishment, because it's the one thing i made sure i stuck with.

for those of you who are just starting out in your quit journey, i am here to let you know it can be done, i had smoked three packs of smokes per day, i was badly addicted to smoking and never thought i would ever see myself stop smoking but when i realized just how much i was smoking and how much it was costing me it really did put things into perspective for me.

Your not going to get it on your first try, heak you may not even get it on your second try but you will eventually get it so please don't give up remember you got this and we are all here for each other to get each other thru, so please never give up trying.

What got me thru this was that i have always kept my hands busy i would work around the house or i would knit or do something to help myself with this quit, and i would drink cold water with ice because it actually did take the cravings away for me, my quit journey has got me eleven years without smoking, which is amazing to me...

I have had many stress factors that would always get in the way, but i never gave it a chance to take over me, many family members have passed away but i knew smoking wasn't going to change what had happened to them and so i kept my quit going because i wanted to make sure i wouldn't ever touch a smoke again.

Stress is always a hard factor that tries to get in the way of you trying to do something, but the key is to not let it because you need to ask yourself, is smoking going to change what has happened? the answer is no, is smoking going to help your situation or make it worst? it's going to make it worst and here is why, you can not change the trigger, you can not change that situation, and it's not going to make you feel any better because once you smoke your going to feel worst and your going to beat yourself up over you giving in, and that is why you need to give it your all and not give in to temptation 

I have a very good reason why i wanted to stay smoke free, the main reason is because my husband and i was in this together and we stopped smoking together, it was just something we did together as a couple and i liked having him with me thru the hard time in stopping this bad habit.

please don't give up, you can do this and i am an example of that, and i had many triggers that would of set me back but i would not give in or give up and you shouldn't either because you will be so thankful to keep your quit going 

be proud of yourself this is a huge accomplishment 

your non smoking friend for eleven years 

Liz 

Thanks for sharing your story Liz. I am not close to quitting nicotine like you did. I did quit smoking ten years ago with the help of NRT, nicotine lozenges. I still use them. I can't say I want to give them up completely. I used to use 12 a day. I have reduced that amount to 6 a day. Lately, I have been having more than 6. I wish you all the best! I will just have to keep plugging away!