I was 13 when I first smoked a cigarette. For a couple of weeks, I smoked maybe a cigarette per day. Then I stopped. Never thought about it again.

5 years ago, when I was 17, my class got together on a Friday night. We were hanging out outside a night club when a friend passed me a cigarette. So I thought, "why not?"! It wasn't really a matter of pressure, I didn't feel like I had to do it or anything. I had tried it before and it didn't taste great, but it didn't taste awful. Actually, for me, the problem was that unlike my first experience, this time it tasted GREAT! I was slightly drunk and that smokey sensation mixed with the flavoured air I was breathing... GOD, it really was amazing!

After a week I started buying packs. After two months I was smoking a pack (20cigs) per day. In 5 years, I only quit for a few weeks, for a friend I was in love with - but since it didn't work out, I started smoking again. Eventually, it became a part of me, of my lifestyle, of my self-image. I was a proud smoker.

However, my self-image started to change over time. Suddenly, I was not the stylish young writer and mathematician, with that mysterious cloud of smoke hanging around my hands, my mouth and probably my soul. I was just a fat guy with yellow-fingers, yellow-teeth and probably a yellow soul. I was always tired, always worried about the number of cigs I still had, did I have a lighter with me? "Excuse me, can I smoke in here?"! "God, I need a cigarette"! The very first thing I did when I woke up was to smoke a cigarette and that was the very last thing I did before going to bed...

I was a slave, like all smokers! But like all smokers, I COULDN'T CARE LESS!!

But then... one day, my mother and I were having a conversation about love. She asked me if I loved her. I told her I did. So she said, "if you love me, quit smoking, like you did for that friend of yours you were in love with".

"Refuse! Make a scene! Show her she is being manipulative and trying to control your life! She is trying to compare the love you have for her with other kinds of love! Do not let her do this! If you do this, you will be conveying the message that it is ok for her to emotionally blackmail you from now on" -- my thoughts just screamed and screamed and screamed...

And then, from the back of my head, I heard a voice who was not telling me what to do! Instead, it was asking me one single question - "is it true that you love her?"

So I thought to myself, "yes, it is". "Then do what she is asking. It will not hurt you."

That was the FIRST MOMENT. Right there, I knew I was going to quit.

The next day, after lunch, I still had some cigs with me. I hadn't smoked since the day before, everything was going fine, but there I was, I had a great meal, I had a wonderful cup of coffee, so the cigarette would be the cherry on top of the cake. One cigarette would just make that picture perfect. I placed the cigs on the table, next to the lighter, just to look at them. I watched them. Then I touched them. And then I smelled them. I was going crazy!!

I got up, left the cafeteria and bumped into a couple of friends. One of them was smoking. GOD!!

It was starting to get too hard for me, so I didn't think twice - I took my last cigs and gave them to my friend.

That was the SECOND MOMENT. Right there, I knew I had quit smoking.

I haven't touched a cigarette in almost two months now and it hasn't been a problem at all :)

I quit. Why can't you?

Well, good onya for quitting. I'm sure I could quit if I really wanted to, but I don't. Easy as that.

Wow that was one of the most inspiring piece I have ever seen. I am a smoker and I have tried over the years to quit and by reading this it gives me the motivation to think twice. I must say you have a talent. Cheers to you. I will definitely share this with a few friends and try to see if my mother would take the hint and ask me the same question as your mother did. I hope you stay with it. My hat is off to you.

Haloperidol that was inspirational.

There are a lot of reasons to quit and I have had many that love me ask me to. Finally, I have decided to quit this coming Saturday with the help of Chantix. I will remember your post, thank you.

My mom passed away a year and a half ago. She was also asking me to quit for so many years . She lived 500 miles away from us, and every time I spoke with her on the phone she would ask if I quit. Yes she even asked me the very same question; "if you love me, quit, please."

I am going to beat this although I will need all the help I can get. It's just a shame that she isn't here to cheer me on. But I bet she will know, this was important to her.

Stringer

The power of love! Keep it up.

Maybe because everyone is different, not everyone can just quit and fight the cravings like you did.

Maybe because everyone is different, not everyone can just quit and fight the cravings like you did.

Awesome. I pretty much stopped smoking after I found out I had low oxygen intake.

People take in 100% oxygen when breathing, I only took 75%.
Not to mention, my liver and kidney were 50% damaged due to excessive drinking..

I have stopped smoking.. last time I smoked, I choked and coughed.. it tasted awkward too

For drinking.. I control myself.. not too much~

I'm proud of you, girlfriend! It's really all a matter of resolve.

Good for you!! I wish I could do the same.I started smoking when I was 12 years old.It became a habit by the time I was 16 as we were allowed to smoke in school.I can vividly remember smoking out in the malls,in the grocery store waiting to cash out,in restaurants,even at your desk at work.I would love to quit smoking but now after doing it for 43 years I don't know any other way of life.I tried the Chantix and it made me sick to my stomach.I tried cold turkey and that lasted 3 hours.I used the patch and tried the gum.I still smoked.My father died at the age of 46 with cancer and my mother was after me all the time to quit.She died of congestive heart failure.You would think that would be enough to scare me into quitting.I just cant.I want to but my body requires the nicotine. If you went that long without a cigarette don't ever light one up gain.I wish I could do it.

Good for you! It is a nasty habit that hurts you and the people you love emotionally AND physically but you have to want to quit for yourself I think.. not just for someone else I am trying to quit also but I find it difficult when I see other people smoking!