Hello, Everyone!
First, CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who is involved with this site. We are all here for a common goal...to quit smoking and to give support and encouragement to others in their journeys, as well as to receive it in our own. To those who have quit: Congratulations on taking such a huge step! To those who are toying with the idea or who have relapsed and are thinking of trying again: Congratulations on considering it! The preliminary thoughts are just as important of a step as any other in this journey!
I have been smoke-free for 11 days and have been nicotine-free (I stopped using the Nicoderm CQ patch) for 4 days. I have been a smoker for 20 years, with the exception of having quit during pregnancy 18 years ago. About 6 months after my daughter was born in 1996, I picked up a cigarette (thinking that, since I had quit for almost a year at that point, I wouldn't pick up the HABIT or ADDICTION again) and that was that. 18 years later, I hit what I refer to as "THE POINT." The point where you just know. This is it. It's going to be hard. It's going to suck...A LOT. But this is THE POINT where I KNOW that this is what I need to do and THE POINT where I know that I'm doing it. After toying around with the notion of quitting for a long time (you know...where you tell yourself that this could be the last one or this might be the last pack if I wanted it to be), I finally had my last smoke at 7:10 am on Monday November 24, 2014. I even had a few left in the pack. I threw it all away, along with my lighters (which, I amazingly found all of them easily, which is weird considering I could never find them when I actually had a cigarette in my mouth!).
My own personal health and familial history of cancers and other smoking-related diseases and issues are my first reasons for quitting. My mother had cancer 3 times in her lifetime, as well as a heart attack, angioplasty, and a valve replacement (which was actually unrelated to her having been a smoker for 40 years). She quit smoking after her heart attack. She was 58. Quitting then, even though she had smoked for 40 years, probably added a couple of years to her life. She passed away at 69 on May 3, 2012. At that time, she was still fighting a 2-year battle with lung cancer, but the prognosis was looking good and her tumors were shrinking. Her heart and body just couldn't hang anymore. It had been through too much, and it was time for her to be with God. Having lost her has been a devastating blow. I was extremely close with my mother. She's amazing. I'm so thankful for whatever extra time that her having quit smoking allowed us all to have.
I want to add as much time as I possibly can so that my daughter, husband, family, and friends don't have to deal with my passing knowing that it was because I did it to myself. That my inability to quit a habit (one that I admittedly LOVE, nonetheless) was more important to me than what they will go through if I get sick or die an early and nasty death because of this habit. If I get hit by a bus...fine. If a house falls on me...okay. I can't control how I go, but I can definitely stop contributing to the potentials! I love them all too much, and I love myself!
But, I'm not going to lie...this sucks.
It's hard. It's frustrating. It's lonely. It's everything that every little demon that wants me to keep smoking is making it to be. But I won't give in, and I won't give up.
This is the Cliff's Notes version of my story. I don't know anyone here, and no one knows me, but I hope that I can help in any way that I can. We're all fighting the same basic demon...addiction. We may have different reasons, different methods, and different outcomes, but we all have a common goal. We are all better than the cigarette that we're craving!!
Sounds like you really do want to quit, and your mindset is going to help you do it! Like I try and tell people, quitting is 10% physical and 90% mental. The physical part will be over in a matter of days, but the mental part will go on for a long time, sometimes years. If you really want to quit you can do it, but it takes a lot of determination. Give yourself a pat on the back and be sure and reward yourself for your accomplishments. 
