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Quit smoking in 1989 after a scare. While at Mc Donalds, thought I was having a heart attack, and (yap...) started to pray VERY quickly....even made a 'deal', something along the order of: PLEASE (!) let me get through this one, and I'll quit smoking.....
I got through it allright... it was NOT a heart attack after all.... it was a gall bladder attack.... uhhhh, sure felt as what I would believe to be a heart attack.
Ok, so..... I quit from that moment on COLD TURKEY (!), after smoking about 3+ packages a day for ca. 30+ years... could'nt lite them up fast enough.....Fortunally I quit everytime I was pregnant ( always stopped smoking 'automatically', and whenever I quit smoking my husband & I KNEW...and WAY before any first Dr. visit....), yet not so 'fortunate' I started up EVERY TIME right after the baby was born... and actually FORCED myself to smoke again... because lets face it, taking those first few 'puffs' is no joy, but just tasted downright ugly, but sure never took long to be hooked again....
It was not easy quitting, but what kept me going was FEAR!!! I feared that IF I did not stick to my 'deal' + promise, that THIS time the overall outcome may not be too good after all.... you see, I had made a 'deal + promise' once before.... but had NOT stuck to my end of the 'bargain'....
Anyhow, quitting was 'one day at a time', and each day I came home from work, I stuck $ 5 in a cookie jar, as a reward for not smoking that day. If I did not have the money on hand, my husband had to 'cough it up', since my cookie jar reward could not be overlooked!!!!
As I stuck to the no smoking, the reward money accumulated relatively quickly, and soon I had enough to pay for an overseas trip to visit 'h-o-m-e' (always reminds me of 'ET going hooome...")
To this day, almost 19 yrs later... I still get the 'urge' once in a while, and want to reach over, take somebodies cigarette to just take a puff.... outch!!! BUT, I am sooo very glad that I quit, as I sincerely do not think that I would still be around had I continued....There are of course also the other benefits: my close, my house, my car no longer smell like a smoke parlor....
Nowadays when I am at a casino I truly resent, no... I despise (!) all those poeple who show no consideration to their neighboring players, and are just blowing smoke my direction....... just don't enjoy enhaling what comes out of their lungs..... and hate my clothe to smell of smoke.... I recall that I NEVER 'puffed' somebodies way, and even put the 'da....' thing out, if I thought that somebody may be offended just sitting next to a smoker.....