At 2.6 years quit I rarely think of smoking anymore. If I do entertain the concept of smoking I almost always cancel out the thought instantly. The most important aspect of the quit process is to become educated about what smoking does to the human body.

The past week I have seen two fatal accidents along the route 9 corridor heading towards Brattleboro, Vermont. Both could have been avoided if the drivers had not made bad decisions. The first accident involved a left turn and the second accident involved a right turn. What did both drivers have in common? They both risked their lives and the lives of others by making a turn in front of speeding traffic. They both probably thought that they could beat the odds of dying, and they both failed miserably.

Quitting smoking involves a major life change and does strange things to the human psyche. We can convince ourselves of almost anything if we truly grasp onto a belief in our minds. Thinking that you cannot quit smoking is one such belief that will literally kill you!

"About 80% of the patients whose legs or extremities I have to amputate are current smokers. If they are not current smokers, then they almost certainly used to smoke. If patients presenting with PAD have never smoked, I have cause to doubt whether they have the disease at all." -Mr. Daryll Baker, Consultant vascular surgeon, Royal Free Hospital.

When I look back at being a smoker, and even in my previous quits, I see that my attitude towards smoking was not in touch with reality. I had a positive attitude towards smoking, because I focused on things that were either insignificant, or just not true.