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I smoked for 25 years and tried to quit several times.

I’ve got a new bride, I’ll quit for my wife’s sake. (That didn’t work)

I’m about to become a father, I’ll quit for my child’s sake. (That didn’t work either)

I finally realized that you can’t quit for anyone else. You have to be selfish about it and quit for yourself. My situation was that I was a singer in my youth. I was in a couple of bands and liked acting in Broadway musicals. I even had my shot in the Stuttgart Opera in Germany… I loved singing.

Several thousand packs and cartons of cigarettes later my voice was no longer what it was and I realized that I wanted to sing again… I wanted my voice back… so I determined that I would quit for ME!

A few times in the past I had tried the nicotine gums but they didn’t help. I hated the taste and I would smoke while chewing. I never really followed the directions or the program. This time I decided to try a patch and to follow all directions.

I read the program, set a quit date and determined to sing again.

On by first day as a non-smoker, I got up and headed for my coffee maker. With my first sip, I knew I couldn’t do it with coffee in my hand. That was one of my smoking triggers.

Have a cup of coffee, have a smoke.

Eat a meal, then have a smoke.

Have a beer, light up a smoke.

When I pass a certain billboard, I light up because I had just enough time for a smoke before entering work.

I had to make changes to eliminate my “Smoking Triggers”

So I poured out my coffee and poured a glass of apple juice.

I took a different route to work so I didn’t see that billboard.

I avoided my smoking friends during break time.

I cut out drinking beer.

With the support of my wife who realized my struggle and didn’t carp at me, I was finally able to quit. You get over the physical addiction to nicotine after about 4 days, but the hardest struggle is with the ritual of smoking.

YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR A WHILE!

My first day as a non-smoker was September 9th, 1995. Today I drink coffee, I drive in a smoke-free car, I live in a smoke-free home, I like to have a drink in the evenings, but I do not smoke. Every once in a while I get the urge to have a cigarette, a cigar, or to fill my meerschaum pipe, but then I remind myself of the struggle and anguish I went through before and I don’t want to go through that again.
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