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Remember the first few days? Remember worrying that the urges, wanting and craves would never end? If a cold turkey quitter, here's your chance to tell both smokers and new quitters what it's like now.

Tell@WhyQuit.com

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#651 | 14 Dec 2008 | aryeh36

It's like "Don't think of a Monkey" the "Don't think" puts the monkey in your head.

Until coming across this thread, zero seconds for today.
After coming across this thread, 4 seconds is fairly accurate for today.

Aryeh
204 days

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#652 | 14 Dec 2008 | WSPSTARLADY

Am I the only one who still thinks about smoking? I haven't had a cigarette for 1 month, 1 week, 2 days, & 1 hour... Although that is not a long time, I have quit many times for 8 months - 5 years and I still thought about smoking frequently. I believe that the question was "thinking" about smoking - not thinking that it is a good idea. I would say that I think about smoking for 1 minute every 20 minutes or so... that means, I think about smoking for 3 minutes/hour. Considering I am usually awake 16 hours/day, I spend 48 minutes a day or 2,880 seconds/day thinking about smoking.

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#653 | 14 Dec 2008 | forza d animo

I am kicking this string up now because I want the new members to be reading through it. It is an important string showing how over time the thoughts for cigarettes do really become infrequent. I also want to note that the purpose of this string is for new members to read the experiences from a lot of people what it is like for them not to over time, not for new members to write what it is like for them the first few days or weeks of quitting.

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#654 | 14 Dec 2008 | Levaser

One month 3 days here.

1-3 minutes per day on average I still want a cigarette. It's not a craving that happens during first 3 days, not an itch that goes for 1-3 weeks after you quit cold. It's just a small thought how nice it would be to have a cigarette right now.

And even then it doesn't happen every single day, maybe every second day I want one for 1-3 minutes, that is. I sometimes get back to this site and re-read a couple of Joel's essays on random or see a picture of cancer-impaired lungs. That helps a lot.

That just one cigarette is only an illusion. There is no such thing as one cigarette. There are years of misery however. Why bother?

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WavyDavy7 | 14 Dec 2008 | #655

I was reminded of the world I left when Freedom became my guide. That world was and is a world that still promotes NRT; it still a world that for some perverse reason still emphasizes the pain and difficulty of quitting. At Freedom I have the possibility of seeing abstinence from nicotine as a natural and desirable state of affairs. I still have the the thought to smoke a cigarrete, but frankly it doesn't grab me that hard. It just ocurred to me I don't even know what they're charging for those things these days and I also noticed I somehow mis-spelled cigarette.

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#656 | 15 Dec 2008 | Theresa10458

Have not thought of it at all. Life does go on after the quit. The thoughts will dissipate more and more as you remain committed to NTAP. A BIG DOUGHNUT

Theresa - SILVER TOMORROW

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#657 | 15 Dec 2008 | Theresa10458

You are not alone STAR. Yes I to have thought about it. It has become less frequent though. It is a thought that only passes like a ghost through a wall The desire is not one of a reality it only a remembrance.

Theresa

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#658 | 15 Dec 2008 | JoeJFree Gold

The question posed by Joel at the beginning of this Parade of posts is " also write down how many time or how many seconds or minutes in a typical day you really find yourself wanting a cigarette."
Thinking is not wanting. WANTING vs. THINKING
The question posed here is not how often you think about the past activity of inhaling tobacco smoke. How often do you really want to? Really, why would anyone Want to if you don't Have to? You can ahve them all back any time you choose.
Don't think you're living without someting of value or worth. Nicotine has no intrinsic value and adds nothing of value to living life. Celebrate living Free Of Nicotine. That is Truly Living.
Joej Free by choice and glad to say I stay free from nicotien by choosing to stay free of nicotine. Not a sacrifice or hardship in any way - simply enjoy living clean.

Recovered Me Three Years, Eleven Months, Four Days, 10 Hours and 51 Minutes ago. Now reclaimed 258 Days and 23 Hours of my life's time , by choosing to not use of 37296 death delivery devices and accumulated $9,500.01 in the 'freedom dividend' account.

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#659 | 15 Dec 2008 | wannadanc

Thank you for the clarification on think/want, not that it was confusing me. At 4.5 YEARS clean and smober, I can say NEVER to want, and think -- only when I see one or smell one - and only some of the times do I even notice. With every day away from that last puff, the times between wants and/or thinks gets longer and longer. It really does. I didn't think it possible for the 40 plus years that I DID smoke........how grateful I am now for the 4.5 years I have not done that. --

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#660 | 16 Dec 2008 | Theresa10458

NONE = 0
1 = ALL


Theresa - Free and Healing for Five Months, Twenty Nine Days, 19 Hours and 38 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 19 Days and 1 Hour, by avoiding the use of 5485 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me $1,934.09.

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#661 | 16 Dec 2008 | jinx

Ya Namby-pambies...

Newbies ( and I'm still one), after 1 month and 21 days, there's not a day that goes by that I do not WANT nicotine....however, I choose not to put that in my body any more

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#662 | 16 Dec 2008 | MrsRed8

After being smoke free for 3 months 2 weeks I can honestly say that I want a cigarette 0 sec a day How many seconds a day do I think about a cigarette maybe 5 seconds a day.

I tried many times to quit over the last 40 years & I can honestly say that I am a non smoker now. I have never felt so free of cigarettes as I have over the last 3 months.

Now I can tell a smoker by just walking past someone. It turns my stomach to think that I smelled that bad.

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#663 | 01 Mar 2009 | osabrava2

Hi! My name is Bernadette and I was a pack-a-day smoker for 27 years. According to my stats today, I've been free for 53 months. If I'd continued to smoke, I'd have smoked over 32 thousand cigarettes and spent over $8000 for the "privilege". Instead, I've probably helped extend my years on the planet by quitting cold turkey with the help of this site and all the wonderful people who maintain and post to it. Thanks Freedom, for all you do. When I smoked, my whole day, everyday, revolved around smoking. These days, I think about cigarettes an average of 0 (zero) seconds a day and I don't want them in my life for any reason at all. That's freedom!

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#664 | 02 Mar 2009 | JohnPolito

osabrava2 wrote:

Hi! My name is Bernadette and I was a pack-a-day smoker for 27 years. According to my stats today, I've been free for 53 months. If I'd continued to smoke, I'd have smoked over 32 thousand cigarettes and spent over $8000 for the "privilege". Instead, I've probably helped extend my years on the planet by quitting cold turkey with the help of this site and all the wonderful people who maintain and post to it. Thanks Freedom, for all you do. When I smoked, my whole day, everyday, revolved around smoking. These days, I think about cigarettes an average of 0 (zero) seconds a day and I don't want them in my life for any reason at all. That's freedom!

I'm with Bernadette, I too think about wanting to smoke cigarettes zero seconds per day. But in that I haven't had zero desire for a cigarette since December 2001 (after having stopped smoking three packs a day on May 15, 1999), a more accurate statement would be, since 2002 I have devoted zero seconds per year thinking about wanting to smoke nicotine!

So how could that be? Most ex-smokers I speak with who have never been associated with Freedom or WhyQuit claim to think about smoking now and then. In fact, I've had a couple claim that not a day goes by without them thinking about smoking. What's the answer?

"I smoke because I like smoking," "I smoke because I like the flavor," "I smoke because I'm self destructive," "Smoking is how I deal with stress," "I can't quit" or "I won't quit", Joel did an excellet job of providing my mind the logic and truth it needed in order to see just how silly my smoking rationalizations really were. He helped rid my mind of monsters, chemical friends and Nicodemon. He gave me the ammo needed to destroy and demolish my smoking rationalzations.

And then there's all the heartache I've witnessed in having corresponded with hundreds of middle-aged tobacco victims and their surviving family members, with a few in their 30s and far too many in their 40s. I guess I too could have been an uneducated quitter whose nicotine use rationalizations survived his last fix but that isn't who I am. My mind contains nothing positive or inviting about using - nothing!!

In many ways I deeply admire the quitter teased by surviving use rationalizations. My only challenge is to never take my freedom for granted, to remember the lessons I've learned. Still just one rule ... none today!

Breathe deep, hug hard, live long,

John (Gold x9)

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#665 | 02 Mar 2009 | starbirder

The question posed by Joel at the beginning of this Parade of posts is " also write down how many times or how many seconds or minutes in a typical day you really find yourself wanting a cigarette."

Thinking is not wanting!!!! Wanting vs. thinking, is there a difference?

The question posed here is not how often you think about the past activity of inhaling tobacco smoke. How often do you really want to? Really, why would anyone Want to if you don't Have to? You can have them all back any time you choose.

Don't think you're living without someting of value or worth. Nicotine has no intrinsic value and adds nothing of value to living life. Celebrate living Free Of Nicotine. That is Truly Living. JoeJFree Gold Posted: 12/15/08 03:09 AM

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#666 | 17 Mar 2009 | BJC

2 or 3
manageable craves
per day!

@ 11 days of freedom.

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#667 | 17 Mar 2009 | hwc

I've now gone down to ZERO seconds a day on average.

400 days after I quit smoking.

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#668 | 18 Mar 2009 | ThePanster

At 7 weeks: br>
Most days, it is ZERO seconds.

Some days, it is maybe FIVE seconds. Just long enough to feel it, recognize it and say, "No nicotine today!" And then I move on to whatever is next in life.

Until I thought about it just now, I had no idea how much better this has gotten!

I have been free for 1 Month, 3 Weeks, 23 hours and 4 minutes (49 days). I have saved $133.01 by not smoking 749 cigarettes. I have saved 5 Days, 17 hours and 19 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 1/27/2009 9:30 PM

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#669 | 19 Mar 2009 | Koop

How many seconds do I want for a cigarette? ZERO
I still think about it but it's now becoming a nasty thought and not one where I want to smoke.
I now find myself looking at smokers in a very negative light. Not that I would say or do anything but I am just starting to realize how it looks from a non-smokers viewpoint.

Dave, free and healing for 2 months, 12 days, 13 hours, 37 minutes and 26 seconds (71 days).
I've not smoked 1789 death sticks, and saved $629.30.
I've saved 6 days, 5 hours and 5 minutes of my life.

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#670 | 20 Mar 2009 | Amethyst

I am ending day 9 and have to say it has been around 3 or 4 times today that I felt that I thought I wanted one and it was only as I was having tough day in work. Some deep breaths and lots of water helped. I am still in early quit but am so happy to be free and am taking each hour and each day as it comes making a promise to myself.

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#671 | 21 Mar 2009 | grandmaroux

I am 1 month 6 days free from nicotine. I don't think I have actually "wanted" a cigarette for quite a while. I think I have the odd crave maybe once or twice a day that may last 3 or 4 seconds. Its gone pretty quick now. Thinking about if you have "wanted" a cigarette puts a whole new prespective on it. With regards to what Koop was saying I am finding myself with a little bit of pity towards people I see smoking. I am so happy its not me. NTAP one day at a time.

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#672 | 05 Apr 2009 | insaneirishgirl1

I am at day 35 and I sometimes have a manageable craving in the evening , ( My hubby still smokes occasionally and He will go down in the basement , or outside, so i can smell it on him , if it was not for that fact, I would not think about them at all honestly .. I was at a family gathering today with my sisters ( who still smoke) I was fine actually , I did not even feel like i wanted or needed to partake in smoking .... I would say It is just at this point crossing my mind and exiting my mind almost as quickly as it enters..... I am enjoying being able to run with my 4 year old and actually KEEP up with him during this beautiful spring weather, A-LOT more then I am worried about wanting to smoke !

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#673 | 16 Apr 2009 | abdo

1 to 3 min a day max for the first 72 hrs . thanks FREEDOM ,thanx Joel,thanx everybody in whyquit.com . 3d 14:54 smoke-free, 88 cigs not smoked, Ì.ã.þ 27.000 saved, 06:40 life saved

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#674 |19 May 2009 | jasv13

After 27 days I will have to use a decimal for seconds per day. The first week or 10 days there were maybe all in all 30 seconds in the WHOLE day that I felt I MISSED smoking or WANTED to smoke. But for the last week I definited NEVER want to smoke. I THINK about the act of smoking quite a bit more - but that is thinking about it as in to appreciate the fact that I don't anymore -what I have gained and all the positive things that go with NOT smoking.

It really does happen - and I am not even green yet! The promise is really that it gets better. As Long As You NTAP

Jas - Living free of nicotine for 27 Days and 17 hours.

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#675 | 16 Jul 2009 | ccathy247

I am at three months now and I just don't really think of them at all. Now I get a few mental pauses during the day and I think ...mmmmmm......am I thirsty or something......

I am now into kinda fine-tuning my responses to body cues. We used to answer nicotine to most body cues. Guess I have confronted most of my usual triggers and that's why I don't even get the thoughts anymore. HeHe.......I can get mad at someone and not even think of nicotine Or when someone says or does the slightest little thing to me that I don't like, again I don't think of nicotine.

Life goes on and I can definately say I am overall calmer and an easier person to live with. I have been quit for 3 Months, 6 Days, 12 hours, 23 minutes and 38 seconds (97 days). I have saved $97.51 by not smoking 1,950 cigarettes. I have saved 6 Days, 18 hours and 30 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 10/04/2009 12:00 AM

The intelligent quitter's strategy combines an understanding of the Law of Addiction with well-protected core motivations.


Nobody ever graduates from Addiction

Cathy, Gold

[Quit April 10, 2009]

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