The First 3 Hours

In his book, The EasyWay to Stop Smoking, Allen Carr refers to the little monster that wants to be fed.

The book helped me understand what I'd been living through for the past 20 years. And being able to see it for what it is, gave me the power to DECIDE to stop.

That was the hardest part - deciding. Only another heavy smoker can understand this. It would seem logical that we would want to quit. We tell ourselves that one day we will, just not today.

Right now, 3 hours after putting out my last cigarette (an IMPOSSIBLE amount of time to go without out a smoke for the old me), I know that I will never smoke another cigarette.

How I'm doing -
Every three minutes or so, I have the impulse to reach for a cigarette. It only lasts a split second until I remember that I am no longer a smoker, and that the cigarette pack is not right next to me - or anywhere in the house for that matter. (Before I lit up that last horrible, disgusting, filthy, stinking one, I took out all the trash - empty packs, ashtrays, and any other cigarette around, other than the one I was about to smoke).

But yeah, that's the worst of it so far - these little, frequent mental lapses when I forget that I'm no longer a smoker. That's it. For now anyway.