Have you struggled on how to stop smoking? What is your #1 tip or advice besides: "don't start" or "don't stop www.smokinghelp.com?

I quit smoking "cold turkey" in 1985 after smoking a pack a day for about 20 years. (I started smoking at a pretty young age. ) What I have learned in the years since is that quitting smoking is relatively easy for some and very difficult for others.

You just don't know how hard it will be for you until you quit. Here are a few tips based on my experience. Tip #1: If there are activities or places which you associate with smoking, avoid those activities and places for awhile.

For example, the first thing I did each morning was to have a cup of coffee and a smoke a cigarette. So I just stopped having coffee in the morning. Honestly, it wasn't the same without a cigarette, and I still don't drink coffee.

Tip #2: Be prepared for the fact that quitting smoking is different from not wanting a cigarette. It was about 5 years after I quit that I could actually go a day without wanting or thinking about a cigarette. It seemed like every traffic light that I stopped at, someone in the car next to me or across the intersection was enjoying a cigarette and casually blowing the smoke out the window.

Even now, there are still moments when, out of the blue, I will find myself really wanting a cigarette. Tip #3: There seem to be "addictive" personalities. I know I am one.

When you quit smoking, be very vigilant not to substitute another addition for the smoking. It is much easier never to begin an addictive behavior than to stop one once started. I avoid illegal drugs and never drank more than one glass of wine a day.

Now I don't drink at all because I stopped when my husband quit drinking. I don't even take a Xanax more than 3 days in a row. And, of course, try to limit your food intake to avoid the common problem of weight gain.

Just determine that you will not be addicted to anything again. Tip #4: Make a point to empathize with other addicts, especially those who try and fall off the wagon. After I quit smoking, I never looked at a drug addict or alcoholic the same again.

And I understood how people relapse. "There, but for the grace of God, go I.

I recently started smoking again after two years of not smoking. I'd been trying ot quit since the first week but I just felt like I needed the cigarette. I just kept telling myself that I'll keep trying until it sticks.

I tried once with the gum and once with the patch but the cravings just seemed too strong. Then I started reading this book about prayer and affirmations. People had told me to pray to quit smoking but it didn't seem like it was something that would work.

But this book inspired me to do something like that. There was a chapter called "Casting the Burden," which spoke of using the affirmation "I cast this burden on the Christ within, and I go free. " Now, I don't claim to be one religion or the other but I always try to keep an open mind.So I tried it, (but first I changed Christ to Buddha because it sat better with me).

First, I said it whenever I smoked a cigarette, then I started remembering to say it before I smoked a cigarette (when I had a craving or a trigger). Its been ten days and the easiest quit ever. I don't feel like a smoker at all and I don't want to smoke at all.

I don't think anyone is going to give me a mahalo best answer for this because it may seem too easy but there's no harm in trying it.

Here are the two ways to see if you are doing everything right and some great pointers. I manage 2 pages on Mahalo that are related to the topic: mahalo.com/quit-smoking mahalo.com/how-to-know-how-your-body-wil... Read up on the topic, view the video I have featured. It is possible and we all can do it...my motivation for these two pages was based on the fact that I have done it.

I am adding my featured video, but urge you to visit the pages I highlighted above.

First my story: Fifteen years ago I quit a 2+ pack a day habit, on my third serious attempt at quitting. My motivation the third time was for money. The previous attempts had been for health reasons.My first two attempts I tried cold turkey.

I got sweats, fever, and nausea that lasted three or four days until I gave in and started again. My third attempt I just cut back little by little until finally I quit. Now my tips: 1.

Cutting back little by little worked for me. When I started to get a craving or came up on a time for a "scheduled" cigarette, I might push the time out and wait another ten minutes, or skip this one altogether. Or, I might smoke only half a cigarette.

Little by little I quit. It took about a month, and it wasn't so bad.2.Be prepared to fail once or twice, be prepared to have it be hard, but don't give up. Start over on another attempt until you find a way that works for you!

Keep on Tryin! Don't quit smiling while you are quitting: youtube.com/watch?v=j9c6mrpZ03c&feature=....

It's difficult to quit if you don't have any real reason to. As adults there really isn't anything stopping us from going to the store to get cigarettes anytime we want. I quit because of vanity and health.

I worried it would affect my health one day and I have a 6 year old daughter. I also worried that it cause wrinkles and bad skin. Dumb reasons maybe, but why I chose to quit.

I waivered back and forth with patches and lozenges and gum and even tried cold turkey in the very beginning. I also smoked and quit and smoked many times for years. Finally I stuck with the lozenges for some reason for 4 or 5 months which got me past the toughest part which I've heard is the first week.

The lozenges, however have nasty side effects, one being painful gas and my mouth was bleeding when I brushed my teeth. So I went to the lowest dosage of nic gum and have been quit for 7 months. The only problem is I'm hooked on the gum and should not still be using it.

I'm just afraid of what it would feel like with nothing I guess. No side effects though. I do want to add that I cut the cost by always using generic brands.

They have the same drug in them and cost quite a bit less. Walgreens gives coupons of $5 or $10 everytime I purchase a box of their nic gum. My advice is to keep trying though.

You might quit and smoke and quit a number of times before it sticks. Also try cold turkey if you can to avoid any issues with the nic replacement products. I feel great though.

I'm afraid to let go of the gum but I can honestly say I'm completely done with cigarettes. The thought of them pretty much disgusts me now.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.