My brother asked me what quitting drinking was like.

[Journeyman]

47. I quit smoking 39 years ago, two years before I quit drinking . . .

Without a doubt, cigarettes have been the hardest thing to quit using.

I still find myself craving a smoke, especially when I walk by a smoker and catch a whiff. I'm either immensely tempted or utterly repulsed. There is no middle ground. Either way, I immediately remove myself from the temptation. Yet, I can be in a bar, or sitting next to someone who's enjoying a beer, and never once think of partaking. But cigarettes? The allure is ever present, all these years later.


And yes, I quit smoking two years before I quit drinking, which is a very dangerous thing to do, for you can get drunk and forget you quit.