It’s been almost seven weeks since I quit smoking. I’m not gonna lie, I have smoked since. Last week when I was in Stockholm and hung out with three smoking friends for three days straight I had a few cigarettes. I haven’t smoked since I got home though and I don’t want to either.

I always thought giving up smoking would be hard and the other times I’ve tried it’s been hard and ultimately I’ve failed. Now I know why. It’s all about motivation. Those other times sure I wanted to quite smoking but I didn’t want it with all my heart. I still wanted to smoke but decided that I shouldn’t. Now I simply don’t want to. Do you get the difference?

And why I don’t want to smoke is because I don’t want to die. I used to think that I was young and hadn’t smoked for long enough to be in danger of cancer. And as I’ve already told you I then found out it would take my lungs fifteen years to recover from my smoking. That was a slap in my face since many smokers in my family have died from lung cancer as early as in their thirties. The fact that I in ten years still will be in greater risk of lung cancer than someone who never smoked really scares me. There’s nothing I can do about that. It’s too late. What I can do is to never buy another pack of cigarettes. And I won’t. The realism of dying of cancer made that shouldn’t smoke a don’t want to smoke.

The only tip I can give to those who want to quit smoking is MOTIVATION. If you’re not 100% determined there’s no use trying. You have to make up your mind and really want to quit. I didn’t even try to smoke less in the weeks before I quit. I haven’t used nicotine gum or anything like that either. I quit cold turkey because I was motivated enough.

That’s pretty amazing seeing that I used to smoke a lot. Not a pack a day but maybe four packs a week. And that’s only because I tried to smoke only half a cigarette every time. So yeah, I smoked a lot and I smoked for more than eight years. And that’s only the years I smoked every day. Before I turned eighteen I smoked every now and then. If I had been able to buy cigarettes myself at sixteen when I first started smoking I probably would have become a full time smoker then but the age limit for buying cigarettes in Sweden is eighteen and I didn’t always have a eighteen year old friend around to help me out.

I can’t say that I’ll never pick up a cigarette again. I probably will. I’m fairly certain that I’ll never start smoking full time again though. It’s not that good and it’s not worth it.

Plugs: Michael, Aly, tiff k, clare, Ashley

It’s Friday and I’m spending the night at home. I don’t really feel like partying, or seeing people for that matter. Another reason to why I don’t want to go to the pub with my friends tonight is that I quit smoking seven days ago. I realize that not going to the pub because I quit smoking sounds odd but I have my reasons.

1. Alcohol and cigarettes goes hand in hand for me. I always smoke twice as much as usual during a party night. A night out without cigarettes will be a great challenge. Much harder than drinking my morning coffee without a cigarette in my hand or coffee break at work without a smoke.

2. The majority of my friends smoke so hanging out with them would make smoking very, very tempting.

3. All of my attempts of giving up smoking have failed because of party smoking. I’ve been nicotine free for a couple of weeks, had a few drinks and thought “Just one cigarette won’t hurt…” But it’s never just one cigarette and soon I decide that it’s OK to smoke at least when I’m partying. Then I figure I can have a cigarette once in a while during the rest of the week as well and pretty soon I’m a full time smoker again.

So yeah, to make sure I succeed this time I have to avoid party nights for a while. I’m fine with that because I really want to quit this time. It will take fifteen years for my lungs to repair themselves enough that the risk that I’ll get lung cancer will be just as small as of a person who’s never been a smoker. I’ll be in my forties when all the damages my eight years as a smoker have done will be totally erased from my body. That’s the scariest thing. Even if I quit now I’ll still suffer a great risk of getting lung cancer for many years to come. I knew it takes a while for the body to recover but I didn’t know it takes that long. Obviously this scares the hell out of me so it’s absolutely crucial that I succeed this time. Eight years is enough.

Plugs: Kristine, Joebs, maria, tiff k, Maria, Sean, Elizabeth, Vivian, Shaina, Becky