In the past, I've said that there will come a time where you know you are out of no mans land.
Now, no mans land as described in the blog on my page is a time period.
It is not an exact time period.
What it is is the point of time where you start feeling confident, maybe somewhat over confident.
For most, it seems about a month.
You've fought hard, you are tired of thinking about smoking all the time and you may get a little complacent and let your guard down.
There is a an approximate end time of no mans land but again, no exact date.
I read a medical study back when I quit that said if you can get through 16 weeks, you are fairly safe from relapsing.
Some people don't feel like they are out of it for six months and I believe that people who "dwell on the thought of smoking" the entire length of their quit may never feel free. It is what you make it.
For me, I knew I was free on day 126 when I was driving up to a jobside I had been a smoker on and I reached for the ghost pack on the seat of my truck.
It wasn't there and I started laughing because it no longer made a difference and I knew I was free.
So for Candy it was day 132 when a movie that had alot of smoking it it caused her to realize she was disconnected.
A Request: If and when you recognize the day it hit you, keep track. I may start a group just to record when it happened for each of us, perhaps a study will eventually be done on this.
Also, see the link to the study Thomas posted about the cues to smoke being stronger in the 2-3 months after the first month quit. It's on my page.
