For me, I started as a teenager, as many do, because I thought it was cool. Besides, all my friends were smoking so why shouldn’t I? Even as a teenager I knew what all the risks were. I mean the cigarette makers printed warnings right on the side of the pack of smokes. But, I’m a guy. Why do I care if smoking causes babies to be born prematurely or under weight? I wasn’t planning to give birth any time soon. I don’t mean to make light of this but really can you name a teenager who doesn’t think they aren’t going to live forever? I can’t.

To make matters worse my grand dad had a barn on the farm that was painted with the Pall Mall logos. The paint was old and faded but still very prominent. That was some well spent ad money there. To this day you can still drive around farm country and see barns painted with cigarette logos from days gone by. That’s the way things were. I always thought it was funny cause grandpa was a Marlboro red man. I guess he wasn’t brand loyal. But, in the end, it didn’t really matter what brand he smoked. They eventually got the best of him.

Even though I saw my grand dad be stripped of the man he was by cancer. You’d think I would have steered clear of anything that could be smoked. But, I didn’t. Hey, what can I say? If you were a party dude back in the day what was present at all the parties? Booze, boobs and smoking. I’m sure it’s probably the same way these days. Maybe a little more clandestine but the same nonetheless. Maybe even a little worse. Who knows? The world’s a lot more politically correct now compared to when I was coming up.

I never really considered myself a smoker even though I smoked at parties or whenever I had a beer in my hand. That may seem a little funny to you but it’s true. If I didn’t have smokes around I wouldn’t smoke. I would only buy them if I was going to a concert or party. And then, I would smoke like a chimney. Looking back at those times I could probably be classified as a binge smoker. During the week I would workout, eat sort of clean and basically try to live clean. I wasn’t perfect but I thought I was beating the system. So, when the weekend came around I would get plastered and smoke as many cigarettes as anyone who smoked regularly all week. Probably more, who knows?

As the years passed I didn’t go to as many parties and concerts so my smoking binges tapered off. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I would still have a smoke if I was hanging out with the guys and pounding a few brew ha ha’s. But even those times have passed. I don’t smoke at all anymore. I’ve been completely clean for almost six years now. I’m not going to lie to you and say it was easy to quit. It wasn’t. I went cold turkey. But my wife gave me the greatest motivator in the world IMHO. She said she was pregnant with our first child. I knew right then that smoking had to go. And, I haven’t touched one since.

I can honestly say I only had one nicotine fit. And it was something. It felt like my skin wanted to crawl off my body. That lasted for about 2 days but I fought through it. After about 2 days I started to feel normal again. It wasn’t like a light switch. You just don’t turn it off. But I’m pretty strong willed I guess and I made it through to the other side.

I know many people who aren’t so strong willed. Maybe you are one of them. That’s why over the next few days and weeks I’ll be sharing resources I’ve found on the web to help you with your struggle to quit. It really is a great feeling to be smoke free. I wish you all the best.