I worked it out the other day..........., shit i did not only realise that i was not all that young anymore, but it also dawned on me that i have been smoking for over 27 years.  After giving it quiet some thought i made the decision that i wanted to quit, easier said then done, but worth a try.  I decided this round about 5 or 6 months ago and finally about 3 weeks ago i agreed that the time was right.   So the last 3 weeks have been the hardest 3 weeks in my life, at least as far as i can remember.  Nothing beats quiting smoking and let me tell you i have had some wrong doings in my lifetime that i needed to get rid off.  Smoking or at least stopping is f*cking hard.  Physically it's easy, mentally it is a monster, it's increadible that you cannot even get the thought of smoking a sigarette out of your brain.  It has been 3 weeks since i last had a puff and still it has not become any easier, but i am determined I WILL STOP!!.  There should be stop smoking councelling sessions, just like drugs or alcohol, why are they not there. For all of you that consider stopping, when you do talk about it constantly, it helps me tremendously as i make myself constantly aware of stopping, plus everyone compliments you which at least makes you feel a little better.

They say that the 1st 3 weeks are the hardest, well iam done with those, so easy times are coming   I will look forward to the day that i wake up not wanting a puff  with my coffee.  

For all of you that want to stop here is some advice that i have found works for me .

1. Think about stopping a long time before you do, it will convince your mind that you are doing the rifgt thing, your mind will also tell you when your ready.  If your not ready in your mind,  i doubt it if you can stop for even an hour.

2. From the moment that you have stopped tell everyone about it, not only will they all compliment you, but also you are making a fool out of yourself when you are giving up and nobody likes to have losers for friends, do you??

3. Do not clean the ashtray in your car, it stinks like hell and will keep you aware of why you are stopping (i find that not smoking in the car hit me the hardest)

4. If your partner smokes in the house, like mine, don't tell her/him that they cannot smoke around you, again have the balls to stop, if you decided that you are quitting, this should not bother you, and it safes some irritation  from the partner.

5.  Don't argue or stress too much about things for a couple of weeks, these things make it worse than it already is, i have found that i need to be the most relaxded guy on the block because the things that upset you will drive you to smoke just that one sigarette, DON'T DO IT!

Well i do not know if these tips will work for anybody else, but somehow i feel that they have relieved the pain for me a little, just understand that it is really hard and that nothing will make you feel better, if you know that,         than your mind is ready and you can stop.

I wish myself good luck for the next 3 weeks as they say that after 6 weeks most of the withdraw feelings will have past, I can't wait!!

Further to anyone thinking of quitting, i know you can, because i can (well so far) I smoked up to 50 sigarettes a day, which so by the way equals to a daily profit of about R 50.00, which = a trip to Thailand after a year.

I hope that i can follow through on me stopping, and i believe that i can, and if i can you can, but do YOU really want to?????