586 hours or 24.4 days!

What a journey!! Somehow its been just over 3 weeks already and I feel like Ive lived multiple different lives. I was a 15 year 1-3 grams a day chronic smoker for reference.

Week 1 was very, very foggy, forgetful and full of change. It was hard. I didnt crave being high as much as I did my routine and just smoking.

Week 2, peaks and valley, at about a week and a half I woke up one night in the middle of the night in a panic attack, puked a bit, just a general panic attack heart pounding etc. it was very hard to remain committed to quitting.

Week 3, I realized I could SMELL again! My sense of smell has returned a lot. I love that part. I hardly think about smoking now, seem to have a much better headspace!

Overall, my quality of life has improved. Im not longer so full of anxiety, I also reduced my coffee intake not feeling so burned out/tired, My sleep quality has improved and I find I have a general sense of excitement for things I havent had since I was 15 years old (im just shy of 30 now).

To anyone out there trying to quit. Heres what I did:

I put the idea in my head in November and December, months before I quit. Not as a stressful “i have to quit!” Thing, more of a gentle “someday soon this is going to change”. I allowed the idea to settle in my head for a couple months, I tried slowing down my smoking. I was a 12-20 bong toke a day guy, I got myself down to a 3-4 rips a day guy over those two months.

I thought about it a lot, what itd feel like, what is go througg and why i wanted to do it, long before i did it. I feel like it helped calm the panic and shock of “okay! Today im quitting!” Because that never worked for me.

Be gentle on yourself, understand you didnt get to where you are smoking overnight, so dont expect to quit overnight! Come up with a plan that works for you and your lifestyle. Be okay with yourself if you have to take one step back to take 2 forwards. One day at a time!

I wish you all goodluck 👊✊