Does any one smoke and trying to quit or has anyone quit if so how did you do it
I think the most important factor is admitting you
really do want to stop, until you can do that Lowlee you will find it tough.
I gave up almost 30 years ago and I was smoking up to 40 a day at the time.
I'd had a few false starts at stopping before deciding I'd had enough. A few months earlier I'd done a Uni assignment on "habit breaking." I thought I may as well try and put some of it into practice.
So, basically, what I did for quite a few days was to make a note of the time whenever I lit up, without trying to change my usual behaviour. Even after the second day I noticed that there was a definite pattern. Quite a few of the cigarettes were at the same time each day and they weren't at "usual" times, for example after morning tea or lunch. They were at times like 9.37am, for example, +/- a couple of minutes. I think I did about a weeks recording before starting to address it.
The first ones I cut out were the "regular" ones. I'd done up a time sheet and before I lit up, I'd check the sheet. If it was at a "regular" time, I'd distract myself and go for walk around work or make some calls. I think I may have also put in a 30 minute time limit before being "allowed" to light up. So after a few days of this, the new "regulars" began to appear and I'd do the same as previously. I continued doing this for a couple of weeks and I was down to about 3/4 per day. At some point I got some Nicorette and started chewing the gum in between cigarettes.
From there it was just a case of slowing weaning off the gum. That took quite a while but eventually I no longer needed it.
As I said earlier, it's almost 30 years since I stopped and if someone lights up near me and I get that first whiff, I still go for the top pocket lol.
Best of luck Lowlee, you will feel so much better (especially financially lol) after you finally do give up.