By Jamie Myles

Smoking has become a stigma of sorts. If you are a smoker you are relegated to stand outside when you smoke at work or even at your local bar. Some times the "smoking area" is out back, not to far from the dumpster. There is always someone who will be complaining about you smoking even if you never have smoked anywhere near them. The price of smoking has steadily increased so that besides being socially unacceptable it is also becoming quite costly. If youíre a smoker you will pay higher rates for health and life Insurance. All this and the fact that smoking is bad for your health may have you wanting to quit. That can be a lot harder then it sounds. Let me tell you about my experience and how I quit smoking.

When I decided to stop smoking, I had no idea just how difficult it would be after over twenty years of puffing on my cigarettes at whim. It all started as a teenager smoking with friends after school. We thought we were so cool. Then it was fashionable to smoke. They marketed cigarettes specifically made for women. The hook was "you've come along way baby" and the cigarettes were thin and attractively packaged. Guys had the rugged Marlboro man to emulate. Yes smoking was quite attractive in those days. But times change and now a smoker is pretty much a social outcast.

As the price of cigarettes kept getting higher and more was becoming known about the health risks of smoking I decided I should quit. Well this was the beginning of my journey to smoking old cigarette butts I would save out of my hidden ashtrays and my late night runs to buy smokes under the cloak of darkness. I would throw away my cigarettes and vow not to smoke again several times a month, only to start back up again. I used the patch, the gum, tried to wean myself off by smoking one less cigarette each week. I even quit for almost a year at one time. But alas, I started back up again. Why? I couldn't tell you. Eventually I tried hypnosis but that was as unsuccessful as the other methods. It was also quite expensive. It had got to the point where I was beginning to feel there was no way I was going to stop smoking. Then after several years of trying and failing I thought about the fact that I had never just stopped. I was always looking for a gimmick to help me stop. I never just gave myself the power to just stop! It was that evening that started me on the journey to tell you how I quit smoking. I threw away every cigarette and emptied all the ashtrays in the house. I said a little prayer for strength and rode it out. It has been ten years since that evening and I have not had a cigarette since. Was it hard to do? Oh Yeah, you can bet it was! It was the hardest thing I have ever done. Was it worth it? Again a big resounding yes!