A happiniess finding echoed by 2014 and 2015 studies, a 2009 study found that successful ex-smokers were 21 times more likely to report feeling happier (69.3%) than less happy (3.3%), than when they were smokers.

Astonishingly, within 2 to 3 weeks, the vast majority of cold turkey quitters travel from fear and dread of quitting, to like or even love of being free. Almost impossible for the entrenched smoker to comprehend, it's a fact documented annually by thousands of quit smoking support group messages.

Count me among them.

A former thirty-year heavy smoker, looking back, decades of self-induced anxieties about the imagined horrors of quitting worked against me in actually strengthening captivity's chains.

How could I have been so horribly wrong all those years?

Although I'd tried to convince myself otherwise, deep down, I was sure that I liked smoking, that life after quitting would be horrible, that I'd lose my edge, my ability to cope with stress, and maybe my friends. I had it all backward.

All these years later, it's still hard to believe the depth and breadth of the quiet and calm that arrived once my addiction's daily chatter ended.

I lost nothing.

I can go where I want and stay as long as I like. No longer is life chopped up into the distance between mandatory nicotine feedings.

Gone were the yellow fingers, the ash, butts, packs, ashtrays, lighters, and late-night trips to the store. Missing was my morning cough, the audible wheeze, and repeatedly being diagnosed with chronic bronchitis.

I've been calmer, cleaner and healthier while wearing a brighter smile. I was able to smell again and flavors exploded.

Suddenly the house, car, and my closet stunk to high heaven. While hopefully I can no longer be smelled coming and going, the stink of every smoker I pass remains impossible to miss. And each time, my thoughts are the same, did I wreak that badly?

I became less impulsive and more energetic. Within days, I could chase the dog or climb flight after flight of stairs without getting winded. I found more coins in my pockets, deeper sleep, and, no longer a social outcast, there was a bigger bounce in every step.

I could watch entire movies or stay long after a meal had ended without lying about why I needed to leave. Best of all, I never had to think about quitting again.

According to the CDC, half of adult smokers smoke themselves to death. Were they petrified of quitting too? Is that why new ex-smokers always seemed so obnoxious, because they couldn't believe how wrong they'd been?

How could I have been so wrong?

All of those years, it wasn't like I wasn't trying to quit. More than a dozen serious crash and burns, looking back, I was fighting in ignorance, anxiety and darkness.

It was worse than not knowing how to quit. I didn't know why I smoked, not really.

Although always obedient to that next urge, it never hit me that thousands of old urge satisfaction memories were the actual bars keeping me enslaved, that the only way out was to ignore the lie they were then suggesting, shouting or screaming.

More nicotine isn't the answer to urges and cravings. It's the only way to ensure they return.

In fact, all or nothing, nicotine dependency recovery is one of the few things in life where being 99% successful spells defeat.

So, if unwilling to learn to say "no" to urges and cravings, and then remain loyal and committed to success in doing so again, forget it. You're stuck. So, stop pretending. The problem isn't being solved. You're not going anywhere.

If unwilling to muster the commitment needed to navigate a 3-minute craving, there is no alternative but to eventually die an addict's death.

If, on the other hand, you're willing to devote the up to 72 hours needed to squeeze through the bars, what's on the other side? Where does recovery lead? It leads here to Easy Street.

Although this won't be easy, try to imagine an entire day where you never once think about wanting to inhale nicotine. No urge, no craving, no withdrawal, not even a fleeting thought about wanting to smoke. After the first such day, imagine them gradually becoming more and more common until becoming your new sense of normal.

If willing to let go entirely and move on, you'll begin experiencing weeks, months and eventually years without challenge. In my case decades.

Having worked with thousands of quitters, many diseased and some dying, I'm clearly not your average ex-smoker. That said, having quit on May 15, 1999, I haven't had anything you'd consider a craving since November 2001. Even then, it'd been months since my last. Like a sudden gentle breeze, I smiled during the entire 15 seconds or so it lasted, as it was an overdue reminder of the amazing journey I'd made.

If willing to let go entirely and move on, twenty years from now, how long will it have been since your last challenge? There's only one way to find out.

Knowledge being power, here are a few starting points:

• Basic "How to quit smoking" video [YouTube]
• Nicotine Addition 101 [web article]
• Smart Turkey [web pages & free ebook]
• Never Take Another Puff [free ebook ]
• 100 quit smoking/vaping tips [web article]
• Daily quitting lesson guide [article & video links guides)
• Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home [web pages & free ebook]
• 100 reasons to get excited about quitting smoking [web article]
• Nicotine: "We knowingly addicted you to an insecticide" [web article]

---

John R. Polito received his JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1985, where he graduated Wig & Robe. He is a former 3-pack-a-day thirty-year smoker and the 1999 founder of WhyQuit. A nicotine cessation educator since 2000, John mentored under Joel Spitzer for two decades, presenting more than 100 live nicotine dependency recovery programs modeled after Joel's programs. He is the author of "Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home," "Smart Turkey," and 6 peer-reviewed journal articles. John is the founder and director of Turkeyville, a 15,000-member Facebook support group exclusively for cold turkey quitters. Email: johnpolito54@gmail.com

---

---