*Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters

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tylicoma4	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#81	[url]	[-]
09/19/04 11:54	I'm very grateful to Patience for sending me this link. It's really encouraging to see so many over 40 year smokers. I started when I was 13, 41 years ago. I also smoked while feeding my babies, even in the hospital. I have 4 grandchildren, 2 with asthma, so we really try to stay away from them when we were smoking. I'm happy to be a part of this group. I can't b elieve how much easier it makes it to quit. Thanks everyone,. Marie I have been quit for 5 Days, 20 hours, 13 minutes and 57 seconds .I have saved $17.52 by not smoking 116 cigarettes. I have saved 9 hours and 40 minutes of my life.
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John (Gold)	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#82	[url]	[-]
09/27/04 03:16	I think I shared this story earlier. In my first full clinic (six sessions spanning thirteen hours over thirteen days) I had a fifty-year closet smoker with a cough that was so horrific that we actually had to stop the program as the entire group (five others, six total) thought we were going to lose her right there. After following her out to make sure she was ok I recall thinking to myself, "fifty years, how can what I have to share be of any benefit to her?" Not only did she graduate but one year later she was still free (as were two others) and her chronic cough was gone. It seemed that all she needed was an understanding of the law of addiction and a little support (which was hard to get in the closet). Still only one rule ... no nicotine just one day at a time, Never Take Another Puff! John (Gold x5)
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Evolvingkaren1 GOLD	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#83	[url]	[-]
09/27/04 06:41	I'm 39er, not a 40 but it's all of you that keep me going everyday a day at a time. Thanks for this post on a Monday morning! Karen 131/2 days
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WideEnlightened	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#84	[url]	[-]
10/08/04 05:43	Thank you Mrs. Grumpy O!!!! After 46 of steadily destroying my once young and healthy body, I need to know I'm not alone. I have lung problems, but they are steadily improving, despite the unbelievable number of years I was actively trying to commit suicide with my addiction. It got so that all I had left was my cigarette and my own smokey closet. How isolating this addiction is. I am hopeful now. And I am hopeful for all of the younger people who come here. There are no detox centers for nicotine addicts (there should be) and not much accurate information via the media. Freedom is hope. We cannot continue to die from this lethal substance. Thank you all for your compassion and perserverence. Mary Ann - 68 days nicotine free..NTAP!
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johnny	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#85	[url]	[-]
11/15/04 09:05	johnny-free&healing I have stopped nicotine for 6 months, 16 days, 13 hours, 54 minutes and 48 seconds (199 days). I've not smoked 6387 death sticks, and saved $965.88. I've saved 22 days, 4 hours and 12 minutes of my life.
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Joel	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#86	[url]	[-]
12/21/04 07:14	I just saw a post by a newer member saying that she got through today because she didn't have the courage to smoke. While smoking should be seen as a dangerous and deadly activity, I don't think many of our members see smoking as an act of courage. Linda talked about courage in this thread--the courage to quit. I thought it seemed to be a good place to discuss what really is a courageous act--which is taking control of your addiction and keep control of it by staying committed to never take another puff! Joel From above: "Some of us have been lucky.......some of us are suffering and still more of us do not know what the future holds.....but what we do know is that we are finally quitting.....finally saying enough is enough and wondering why in the world we did not have the guts or courage to quit and quit for good before. " and "And may it tell our younger quitters that we wish that we had had the courage at their age to do what they are doing now.....gaining their freedom so they don't have to worry when they become our age about what damage they have done to their bodies."
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Crystal View1	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#87	[url]	[-]
12/21/04 08:34	I just saw this thread up here....I had seen it before. It was one of the first threads that helped me believe I could do it! Thanks Linda! I have been reading, reading, reading and more reading. I am SO awesomely impressed, most of the time, with my quit....the other part of the time, I am challenged, and reading at Freedom. Whenever I am challenged and I come to Freedom and read and get more education and wisdom, I end up, well, awesomely impressed again! I have included my "current" favorite string with a quote that is helping me hold my quit TIGHT. For today, after 40 years, I am NOT using nicotine! Turning the Corner... Acceptance - a couple of times and I hold this quote from it dear....dear because when I read it, I knew someone knew and I felt "safe"! I am playing for keeps !!!: "We question a future where celebrations and defeats, excitement and boredom are experienced without the presence of the powerful drug to which we were actively addicted for years. We question our mettle. We've made it this far, and we've proven to ourselves that it's doable. But, now we're playing for keeps. This is for good. This is permanent. Can we imagine the rest of our life as an ex-smoker?" Katie - After 40 Years! Free and Healing for Two Months, One Day, 3 Hours and 9 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 3 Days and 16 Hours, by avoiding the use of 1056 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me $211.79. Last Edited By: FreedomNicotine 02/25/09 11:05. Edited 1 time.
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GrumpyOMrsS (Gold)	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#88	[url]	[-]
01/20/05 05:13	after smoking 41 years, 5 years free and loving it! Linda
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Crystal View1	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#89	[url]	[-]
01/20/05 05:42	Wow, does it ever! Everyday is an adventure. For me, playing for keeps is remembering everyday, sometimes many times a day to "Breath deeply and NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF". This is FREEDOM! Katie - After 40 Years! Free and Healing for Three Months, Three Days, 11 Hours and 25 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 5 Days and 13 Hours, by avoiding the use of 1606 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me $322.47.
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Jean	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#90	[url]	[-]
01/20/05 11:54	Yes it is possible as long as you arm yourself with knowledge and courage, just wish I had done this many years ago!!!! After 45+ years free and healing 2 months 1 day 15 hours and 44 minutes refused 1566 death sticks Saved $471.14 Gained 5 days 10 hrs.,32 minutes
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TOM DPLN1 GOLD	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#91	[url]	[-]
01/21/05 02:00	After a 44+ year, 2+ pack a day addiction I am enjoying 13 months of glorious freedom. Pay attention newbies and lurkers, this journey to freedom is doable. It may not always be easy, but it is always simple - no nicotine today. We here at freedom are rooting for you all. NTAP Tom
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mauricesmom	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#92	[url]	[-]
01/21/05 08:29	Started smoking at the age of 15 and kept going for 41 years. I would often just pray or hope that maybe the next day I'de wake up with the strength to quit but that didn't happen. I don't know why or how I decided to give it a try and do a New Years quit but I did and I'm sure it wouldn't have worked if I hadn't found the Freedom site on my computer. After finding the Freedom site, I started reading and the reading and reading some more. It was like a light went on in my head and it was clear to me for the first time ever just what had happened to me. I was an addict and unless I knew how to address this addiction there would be no quit that would work. Now that I have the helpful knowledge and all this wonderful support here at Freedom I can see for the first time in my adult life that this thing is doable. It's not easy to quit but it's simple, I can never take another puff. I want this quit to work, I only wish that I could have done this years ago! P.S. when I see runners on the road running I always think how lucky they are that they can run, I would love to be able to run again, and maybe God willing I just might still be able to someday
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JoeJFree Gold	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#93	[url]	[-]
02/03/05 08:45	*Linda,* Your header message is so well written and hits me in the heart so hard tears well up everytime I read this posts. The message is wonderfully 'on point' so, if I may, I'll borrow your words for my words with some additions and emphasis " ..... many of us at forty years plus are realizing the truth....we are living proof of what smoking can and does do to us. Some of us have been lucky.......some of us are suffering and still more of us do not know what the future holds.....but what we do know is that we are finally quitting.....finally saying enough is enough ( 3 million puffs is probably more than enuf) and wondering why in the world nobody explained the true nature of our addiction before. ......for the first time in our lives, can look in the mirror and smile at ourselves and think.....wow....I did it and am I sure proud!! For some of us it has been somewhat difficult....but many of us forty year plusers...have found the quitting has been the biggest relief of our lives. Quitting was lots easier than we expected. We found that not only do we breathe better, smell better, look better....but we walk taller, we smile more and we have learned that no matter how long we've smoked....we can stake our claim to FREEDOM by choosing to follow the One Rule - No Nicotine Today NTAP! *40+ year smoker not yet 49 years old, sad but true. Can anyone quit - if you truly believe then you will achieve.* Until 1/9/2005 I never thought I would dream of writing - I'm a nicotine addict and ex-smoker who is finding comfort just being me. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is a mystery yet to unfold, so live today like it's your last cause it just may be and choose to NTAP just like me and all of the Freedom family.
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HappiestDeda	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#94	[url]	[-]
03/02/05 01:25	Linda, Thank you for your story. I have been a smoker for 42 years. I started at a time when smoking was very glamorous. Everyone in my life smoked. My parents, my grandparents, aunts and uncles and anyone who reached 18 years old was just kind of expected to pick up the habit. (we called it a habit then). I remember receiving a gold lame cigarette case from my mom when I turned 18. It was a kind of rite of passage I suppose. I felt very grown up. Now forty two years later I'm trying to learn how to NOT SMOKE. I'm finally quitting and I still think it is a miracle. The wonderful information found here at FREEDOM is the only way I could have finally quit. I can't remember how many times I screamed out at God. "Why don't you just take away my desire for nicotine" and the very next day just continue to smoke like a chimney. I had to have FREEDOM explain it to me. This is not just a habit, but a true addiction. I'm just amazed that I have continued to expose my body to hundreds of deadly chemicals on a daily basis for over 40 years and by the grace of God have not developed cancer or emphysema. I am just so thankful to be here speaking to you younger smokers and to tell you just don't wait until your my age to quit smoking. Just save your body and mind all those years of abuse and just stop the insanity now. My greatest regret is that I smoked through 2 pregnancies and raised both my sons in a smoke filled home and car. What did I get for this kind of ignorance? Two sons who smoked. One has quit, but the other one is severly addicted to nicotine to this very day. After smoking for 42 years - I have been smoke free for one month and I intend to NTAP. Linda
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mslindy6	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#95	[url]	[-]
03/14/05 10:41	Hello all you fabulous forty year plus fighters - and newbies and lurkers I would like to share my story with you. I started sneaking smokes from my Dad when I was 9. Not many, one or two here and there. Those were the days of the cigarette boxes full of cigarettes on the coffee table - beside the fancy lighter. Guest were offered drinks and smokes. So how could all these grown ups be wrong ? I officially smoked at home at 16. I was give a carton of cigarettes for a 16th birthday present and a very fancy lighter. My parents were not cruel, they just did not know the implications of what they were doing. Times where different then. I smoked with my Docter in his office on my prenatal visits with both my children. I smoked when I was in actual labour. The hospital allowed you to smoke in bed in those days. If fact I was in hospital for an operation developed a lung problem and still smoked a carton of cigs while waiting to get better. At work I had an ashtray on my desk. More likely than not I would light a smoke and let it burn away while finishing my work, but that lovely second hand smoke was still floating around the office. I tried several times to quit, and many different ways. I mostly wanted to quit because I could not afford to smoke. Not the best reason - but a reason. I did aversion therapy, this is where you walk around with a dirty glass jar full of your stinky butts for days and increasingly smoke more and more until your quit day. I felt awful and had nicotine poisoning - but I did not quit. I tried acuputure, hypnosis, NRT nothing worked. But my reasons were not good enough. I did not believe smoking would hurt me, I did not believe it was that bad for you, in fact I knew very little about it. Just that perhaps I should quit Until one day I though I was having a stroke, I was rushed to the hospital and lucky for me it was not a stroke but a TIA which mimics a stroke and gave me a huge warning. Now I know that smoking is bad - I had to quit, I tried Zyban and that did not work for me, I was one of the few people that actually got depressed on the drug...LOL so I read and read on the internet looking for the EASY way out. Then I found whyquit.com and Freedom. I read and read and read. It all made sense now. I was an addict. I needed to get clean. There was no easy way, there is only one way and that is to NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF. So after 40 years I have quit, I feel better already, I feel liberated and pleased with myself. And in actual fact the first three days, though very hard were NOT as bad as I imagined them to be. SO..I have now stopped smoking for 11 days, 23 hours, 42 minutes, 39 seconds. That translates into 239 cigarettes NOT smoked, for a savings of $106.95CDN! I have increased my life expectancy by 19 hours, 58 minutes, 47 seconds. Thanks to you all at this site! Linda
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karenelizabethsr	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#96	[url]	[-]
03/27/05 08:39	I found this string this morning and am proud to add my little bit. I too remember the "good" old days when there were no rules about where or when or how we could smoke. It horrifies me now to admit that I even smoked while nursing my babies. I grew up in a family who were anti smoking for religous reasons. I started to smoke as a part of teenage rebellion and also because I really believed that I looked sophisticated. I lost count of the times I tried to stop and the methods I've used. (I even got the staple in my ear twice). It was the nature of truth on this site that woke me up. No kid gloves, no excuses, Just plain old truth. I am an addict, I am not receiving anything positive from a smoke. I am only feeding myself nicotine to satisfy my addiction. And there is only one answer. Never Take Another Puff Thanks for being there, Karen After 40+ years of smoking I am proud to be FREE and HEALING for Two Months, Three Days and 12 Hours
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cottage201a	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#97	[url]	[-]
04/08/05 02:43	Hi all!!! I am both a newbie and a lurker. Last Saturday I needed Linda's help to even log on this website. I have learned so much from all of you and I'm so grateful that all of us have arrived here. Forty years is a long time for anything let alone a really destructive habit. Thank you all for caring and sharing. Judy
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Eileen D (GOLD)	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#98	[url]	[-]
04/08/05 04:34	I started to smoke at 15 and boy did I think I was "COOL" and unfortunatly back then it was cool. 41 years later I found FREEDOM and now I really am COOL!! Two years, eleven months, six days, 16 hours, 55 minutes and 20 seconds. 32181 cigarettes not smoked, saving $4,827.36. Life saved: 15 weeks, 6 days, 17 hours, 45 minutes.
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GrumpyOMrsS (Gold)	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#99	[url]	[-]
09/11/05 09:34	It doesn't make any difference how long you smoked or how much you smoked...you can quit. It's as simple as never taking another puff.
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astra2785	Freedom's Fabulous Forty year plus fighters	#100	[url]	[-]
01/12/06 10:00	An oldie but a goody - and that goes for the thread and each of these wonderful older quitters. All of you have been such an inspiration to this old bird - nearly 66, a smoker for 47 years and a quitter for just over a week. It is so good to know that it isn't too late to make the quit count, to stop an addiction that has been neagative in my life for all those very many years. I feel good. Maija
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