The Quitter's Diary - Year Review

The midnight of 9th January last year, I made a promise to myself and after a year of smoke free existence, I had the following proclamation to make on twitter:

At midnight, I have completed 1 year of #smokefree existence. If after 13 years of being a chimney, I can #quitsmoking, then so can you :)

Yes it is true. If I could quit, then even you can too.

I spent two years of Junior College perfecting the art of smoking. I was caught twice. Once by my mom because my lab partner ratted me out and the other time, thanks to my moralistic coaching classes. I promised my parents that I would quit, but I never thought I needed to.

Manipal saw me progress from a 7-a-day-Goldflake Kings (Bada Goldflake for Mumbaikars) to a 20-a-day Wills smoker. On a visit to Mumbai, a friend's uncle had been admitted to some hospital that had a special ward for people who smoked Wills but that too didn't deter me from the evil of smoking. All it did was make me switch from a terribly strong brand to a lighter brand of cigarettes - Goldflake Lights. I smoked 20 a day for the next 9 years. Every new year I would decide to quit but I would just end up smoking 10 a day for a week before moving back to smoking my mandatory 20s.

Then finally, a year back, I decided to free myself from this habit. It worked and I don't foresee myself going back. The first few days and weeks are chronicled. You can begin here and move upwards. It was tough. I figuratively bit peoples' heads off in the first few days. Then it all went away - slowly but steadily. I still, albeit rarely get the pangs. A sudden urge to smoke. The urge can be laughed off now. All this because I made a promise to myself. A promise that I will never smoke. Ever. Again.

P.S.: I am also proud that I influenced one friend to quit, who in turn has influenced two of her friends to quit. Not that I am a quit smoking evangelist but if you ever need help, moral support or you just want to talk, give me a shout out.