Finally I got to the quit smoking clinic appointment today and came out with some nicotine patches, I haven't smoked a cigarette since last night and although I feel a little lost without them I feel good that I'm finally quitting the smokes again. It's been a tough few months since I started smoking again at Christmas time, because I felt I'd let myself down, after all I had quit smoking for a good year or so before I started again. Plus I was making up for lost time I guess because I was smoking more than ever. The early morning coughing has been no fun either. I do miss having a smoke to some degree but I know that if I'm successful in quitting like last time I won't really miss them too much after a while. The main thing is to not give in to temptation even once, because once you get a taste for them again it's pretty much guaranteed you'll get hooked again. It starts off with oh I'll have one occasionally then you have more than one occasionally and then it builds up to full packets per day etc.

I don't want that, I was perfectly happy without them for the time I wasn't smoking and that was quite some time...and I would like to feel that way again. I don't mind if other people want to smoke and they enjoy it, I'm a strong believer that if you want to quit you should only do it when you're good and ready and you have made up your mind to do so. No one should feel forced into quitting, because it won't/doesn't work.

I would recommend quitting however because you do after some time get to see the benefits of quitting smoking, such as more money in your pocket, fresher breath, more energy, less coughing, easier breathing, and not feeling pushed outside in social situations when you want a cigarette. You do feel healthier after a while and you don't miss smoking if you quit successfully for a long period of time, in fact the first cigarette you have if you try smoking ever again will actually taste disgusting, I mean after a while although you might not mind others smoking around you, the smell of the smoke won't seem so appealing when you've quit for a while. I know this because I've tried, and this time I hope to quit for good.

It's difficult to quit initially though, and you need a lot of will power even with nicotine replacement therapy.