Five days, 3 hours, 37 minutes and 42 seconds. 139 cigarettes not smoked, saving $22.04. Life saved: 11 hours, 35 minutes.

Well its Friday night. I made it to the weekend. It has been two and a half days since my last cigarette. I knew trying to quit while working was going to be hard. I always tried to have my own cigarettes so I didn't have to bum any from friends. I knew if I went to work where everyone had cigarettes, I would be tempted to bum. I did okay Thursday, but this morning I actually contemplated who I could bum one from. I had a couple of times this morning and most of the afternoon where I just had to stay away from the break area.

I got up this morning and had one cigarette left in a pack, of course I had to smoke it. My mind wouldn't let me throw it away. Anyway, the procrastinator in me has won long enough. Unless I plan to smoke until it kills me, I will have to face this day sometime, the sooner you start, the sooner you get past it, right?

Nicotine addiction is so amazing. I have thought before, what if someone told me that this cigarette that you are smoking is going to be the one that kills you. I know I would have went ahead and smoked it!? Why is it that we can become addicted to something that is putting toxins into our body?

I started smoking when I was 33 years old. From what I've been told if you make it to 30 and haven't started smoking the odds are you won't ever take up smoking. I quess you could say that I beat those odds. I started smoking because I had a drinking problem, and I reasoned within my mind that if I started smoking maybe I would drink less. That didn't work, it just gave me something to do while I drank.

Now I had two addictions to try to recover from. I was able to kick the drinking when the first of my two sons arrived. I didn't want his life to be scarred from my abuse of alcohol. However, I still have the addiction to nicotine. Every pack that I buy is going to be my last. And every time that pack is gone, I find a reason to buy "just one more pack." This little game has been going on for a couple of years now.

Every now and then, half way through a pack of cigarettes, I get frustrated with my weakness and want to throw them away. But I fear that I will break down and buy another pack and those that I discarded would have been wasted.

If anyone wants to join me in this commitment to quit or has words of encouragement or otherwise, I welcome your comments. I will try to post often to detail my progress.