Sad to say, but I grew up around a house of smokers, and I had an older sister by five years. I started the habbit at the age of seven......yes, SEVEN! My dad smoked filterless, and my mother smoked filtered, I would take his cig butts and her butts, and combine them into a half a cig, or I would steal some of their cigs, or buy my own (at the time, they were only about a dollar a pack, and you could tell the people at the store they are for your parents). I smoked one to one and a half packs a day from the age of seven to the age of twenty.
Sad to be 20 years old and been smoking for 13 years! I decided to quit (I did it cold turkey, OUCH!) because I started nursing school, and figured it would be hard to smoke while working in a hospital. THAT was really tough, because basically all I knew was smoking, I did not know what life was like without smoking, so I picked up a new habbit......gum! When I wanted a cig, I toss in a sugarless stick of gum, it was not as good as that after dinner cig, but it was better than nothing -=) To keep my hands busy I kept a pen with me always, it REALLY helped my when I drove...busy hands keeps the mind from wanting a cig.
After nursing school, I got married, then three years later I was divorced, and somehow I picked up smoking.....well, after seven years of no smoking, there I was smoking again. That lasted about a year or so, and I again quit cold turkey, and have been smoke free for about 2 years or so......I am now 30, I have a chronic cough, a pack of gum in my pocket, but I do not smoke. The urge will never go away to want one, you just get used to saying no to that urge.
I am thankful that I was so athletic as a kid, I ran constantly, I was the top runner in my high school for long distance, I ran a 4 min 35 sec mile, and ran 3 miles in 15 min 30 sec. Have to wonder how much better that would have been if I never did smoke.
Good luck to you SCUBAKristey, you CAN do it!
Ranz
