Yes, I smoked from age 13 until I was 35 and then stopped. No patches, no pills, no needles / hypnosis. I just stopped. Not for the first time but for the last time. I had a bit of help - my wife lined up the kids t say "stop smoking daddy, we dont want you to die". And a few weeks later when I was weakening, on a buinsees trip and in the bar, a work colleague took a cigarette out of my mouth before I lit it. I have been grateful to him ever since.
I did get withdrawal sysmptoms. The shakes, sleepless nights, a streaming cold as the hairs in my nose grew back. Some friends werent addicted and stopped easily - I was addicted.
The key is the first few days. If you can make say 7 days then whenever you feel yourself weakening you can think of the pain you have already been through, and stopping becomes a sort of bandwagon. It also helps if people offer you cigarettes - the more you are tempted, the more you refuse, the stronger the will becomes. "I'll show the buggers!"
That might be me. Circumstances meant that I didnt have an alcoholic drink for a fortnight some 3 years ago, and before I knew it this mentality had kicked in and I havent had a drink since then. It sounds daft because I dont really want to be TT, but I know that I will be disappointed with myself if I give in and have a drink. So I go out for a meal determined to have a drink and fail to do so every time so far. After the first few days, it was the same with fags except that I didnt want to restart.
I guess what I am saying is that its all in the mind. You may well try to stop and fail. It may happen several times as it did with me. And then suddenly you will try again and succeed. When you do its vital that you regard yourself as in remission. Dont ever make the mistake of thinking " I've beaten it and can have a xmas cigar". I did that one and it was 20 cigarillos a day within a week.
My mother gave up smoking in her 80s and it made a big difference to her health.
P.S. I can relate to your car comments. When I was a heavy smoker, I never smoked when driving hard and never even noticed that I wasnt smoking. Same thing with exams, which I have always enjoyed doing. Concentation kills the desire to smoke.
