A little over an hour ago I entered into an phase of my quit i thought i never would at the beginning - I entered 4 digits and hit the big 1000!.
I will be the first to admit that i dont come here that often anymore, but it was a vital resource for me in the early days and one of my motivator was seeing these members with big quits behind them, so i thought i would try help with some new quits.
So what does a 1000 day quit (just shy of 3 years) feel like? For starters, I cannot remember the last time I thought of having a smoke, and if i did it was so fleeting that it was insignificant. I feel much healthier obviously, although i was still very active when i was smoking. Smoking is such a alien thing for me that I cannot honestly recall what it was like. I am a non-smoker.
One of the key factors for me to maintaining my quit was following joel's one puff rule. I cannot emphasise how important that is to maintaing a quit. I recall reading on this same forum how people lost their quit because they had that one puff - then another. When I quit my wife was still smoking (and still is!!) so cigarettes were always at hand. If I therefore felt a strong urge in those early days, i quickly divorced myself from that situation and went for a walk/run. This not only helps to get some endorphines but also gets you away and helps you get fit!. I did a lot of running in those early days.!!
Anyway, I am going to delete that 1000 day reminder in my calendar and go and put a 5 year reminder as my next milestone. For everyone else, keep up your quits - it is worth it in the end!
