I kept giving up.

I used to give up periodically and then start again whenever I went abroad, which I'd do half a dozen times a year. Then I started bringing back more cigarettes and then buying them again until I realised I was smoking properly once more.

I'd been smoking since I was 12, though obviously it went in phases. When I went to university it picked up quite a lot and I'd be smoking 25 an evening when I spent a year in Germany. But I could always stop whenever I wanted with willpower. And then start again.

So one day I decided, "this is my last cigarette". And it was. That was over 9 years ago. For me the extra onus was a young son and reading that if you stop smoking before your mid-30s your body can return eventually to the health status of a non-smoker - I was 34 at the time.

I'm not sure what the point of my story is except that you find a trigger somewhere, if you want to. I always wanted to start again when I'm 70 or something, as the Panda said, but it'll probably be such a shameful activity by then and tobacco much harder to get hold of that I won't be bothered.

Posted By: APB, Feb 25, 19:17:35