Hey there new "friend." Welcome a'board, Valorie!
This is a grand place to hang out when you want to quit smoking. A whole bunch of crazy, wonderful, caring, hard working quitters, present, past and future. Ahhh, you only smoked for 18 years...piece of cake. I smoked for over 35 and I quit. What does that tell you?
I enjoyed it too. But I'm enjoying not being a slave any more, and enjoying being able to smell things I've never smelled before, and no more morning phlegm, and I can sing without sounding liked a scratched up record.
You are very right about the severe consequences ahead if you don't stop. Shortness of breath is just the beginning. It's the things they Don't talk about that are more affective in keeping me quit, not the Big C or COPD, or all the ABCs of diseases. Like my dentist saying he point blank will not do implants, for example, on people who smoke. Says's it's a waste of their money, they'll just be back in for new ones shortly because of what smoking does. Same is true of the healing process after operations. It affects your eyesight - the links between smoking and eye disease is strong, including cataracts and age related macular degeneration. It affects the circulatory system. Smoking doesn't kill you fast, it kills you slowly, wee bits at a time. And we don't feel it. That's what's so insidious about it.
Read all you can on here. Some will recommend other sites to check out, and books to read. Do. The better armed your are, the stronger your armor for the fight ahead. Yeah, getting free is hard, but you can see thousands are doing it on a daily basis here, one minute at a time. You can be one of those.
We're here for ya!
Giulia (2 years 3 mos +)