Updated January 20, 2015.

From Larry:

Let me begin by saying that I feel great! I smoked heavily for over forty years, enjoyed smoking, and was not forced to quit because of health problems.

I made the decision to permanently cease smoking because it is my desire to live the remainder of my life in the "best possible health". My objective is to reduce the odds of suffering from lung cancer, heart disease, and all of the other possible discomforts related to smoking tobacco.

Did I have bad days? Absolutely! The nausea during the first six weeks was terrible. However, the good days began to outnumber the bad days and now I can say that I don't have bad days; I have "bad seconds".

Do I still have psychological urges to light up a cigarette? You bet! These urges last only several seconds and are very weak. I overcome them as I have from the beginning; I change my activity and thoughts.

There is no secret process, no magic pill or special words wherein smoking cessation can be achieved easily.

Each individual cessation is unique. In order to achieve success, you must educate yourself and determine which quitting techniques will work for you. You must carefully plan your activities so that you never give up and that you do not place yourself in a situation likely to cause failure.

You must suck it up and deal with (break the connection to) all of the situations (triggers) that bring on the urge to smoke a cigarette. Facing your triggers and defeating them on a daily basis is essential to a successful quit!

The bottom line to success is education, unwavering resolve and making cessation "job one". Using this Forum as a support base falls under education.

There is a lot of talk about making it into the 7% Club and questions about exactly what it means. My research indicates that this statistic comes from the producers of smoking aids (a very profitable business), wherein it is stated that only 7% of those quitting cold turkey (not using an aid) make it to the one year milestone. This might be correct, however, generally speaking all smoking statistics are just "estimates" and the extrapolation of case studies into the general population is scientifically questionable.

However, the attainment of the one year smoking cessation milestone should be the objective of everyone at this Forum. It can be called the 7% Club or whatever you wish; just keep in mind that it is an "objective" on your way to the "goal" of never smoking again!

Another estimate from the US Public Health Service is that there are 51 million smokers in the USA. 36 million smokers (70%) desire to quit smoking. Each year only 2.5% or 1.3 million smokers successfully cease smoking.

~Larry (LBONN)
Larry's Quit Smoking Story