I started smoking at around 12 years old.
Sneaking cigarettes here and there, and then full time at about 15.
In '92 I had a month long stay in the hospital that was partially due to smoking and sleep apnea.
The stay there was what forced me to quit.
After almost a month spent on a bi-pap machine to help oxygenate my blood, and vigorous breathing treatments, my lungs were able to bring in a larger capacity of air that I hadn't had for six or so years.
By the time I was released from the hospital I didn't want anything to do with cigarettes.
Let me tell you, breathing was a real pleasure again.
I could smell things more clearly (sometimes not a good thing) and I didn't get winded so easily.
Every once in a while I wake up from a...nightmare if you will...in a cold sweat, having dreamed I was still smoking and that the process had started all over again.
It's always a relief when I wake up and realize it was a dream, I can tell you.
My mother and both of my siblings and their spouses all smoke.
It's hard to be around.
You can only ask them so many times to stop before they tell you to fuck off. (sometimes literally)
It's been about twelve years since I quit, which I'm kind of proud of, but nicotine is a motherfucker to ditch.
It follows me everywhere I go.
SLIMM, if you can do it cold turkey, more power to you.
Just don't give up trying.