On 31 december 2007 I quit smoking.

I smoked between 10 and 20 shaggies (Drum or van Nelle) or cigarettes (Lucky Strike or Gauloise) a day. Additionally, I smoked about a gram of hash (preferably super polm) or sometimes weed each day as well.

I smoked my first cigarette when i was around 13 years old and my first joint when i was around 15.I was born on 27 December 1979 which means i had smoked for about half of my life when I finally quit.

Before I was finally able to fully quit I had tried countless times. I even stopped smoking hash and weed for over a year in 2003. I had also quit smoking cigarettes for a week or two several times but was unable to continue.

I wanted to quit cigarettes because smoking made me cough a lot. Also it made me smell bad. (I could only smell that myself around the fingers which i used to hold my cigarette) But most of all it made me feel weak to realize that I was addicted and unable to free myself. I wanted to quit hash and weed because it made me waste a lot of time and because it decreased my motivation to put effort into my job and life in general.

I managed to finally quit when I went on a three month traveling vacation. When I left I had a terrible cold which made me cough a lot so I did not even have a "last cigarette". On the first days of my vacation I felft strong craving several times but very soon I forgot about smoking because of all the experiences I was having on my journey. Without this distraction it would have been much harder.

When I got back home after three months I returned to my normal life and suddenly the craving returned. Fortunately I had gained some strength which allowed me to resist the temptation to return to my old habits.

At the time of this writing (August 2008) I only occasionally feel cravings. Usually these occur when I feel very bored. At these times I would like to smoke a joint because I imagine it would allow me to be entertained by my thoughts without having to actually fix the boredom.

I realize that I will not be able to handle the smoke because i have come to detest the smell. Perhaps I could get used to it again after smoking cigarettes for a few days. But thats not worth the trouble just to get high on a boring Sunday afternoon. Besides, if I would smoke that would only satisfy my craving temporarily and would increase my craving in the long term.

I do not mind to occasionally crave a smoke because I know that if I would continue to smoke I would feel the "craving" to quit smoking much more often. Apparently it is impossible to live without craving either way so I might as well be healthy and unaddicted in the mean time. The craving for smoking will get less over time whereas the craving to quit would only have gotten worse.