[kuranda_bagman]

In general I believe the most important thing about giving up is that mentally, you must really want to. If you're only half hearted about it then you will not succeed. Each ex smoker has their own path to success and they will vary considerably.

For me it's the nicotine patches but I don't use them as directed. I simply use them to get me through the first five days and then it's cold turkey from then on. If I'm not mentally ready to quit I'll only make it to the second day before I'm back on them.

I'm also a firm believer in the 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months theory. I keep a spreadsheet (I know typical fucking bean counter !) and once I've made it to 3 days I then target 3 weeks and so on. I've found that if I can make it to three months I'm confident I can keep going, providing I stay clear of temptation.

And that's the kicker – Temptation - In Australia it's now easier to avoid the temptation with all the anti social smoking rules and I find that to succeed I need to keep away from places and friends that will expose me to smoking, especially in the first 3 weeks. I've lost count of the number of times I've been with a friend who smokes and said "Hey mate can I pinch a fag of you" thinking it will only be one!

It just doesn't work – If you were a 20+ a day person, you can't just have one because if you do you will be back on them before you know it. And don't try and kid yourself that an occasional cigar will be alright, before you know it you will be buying the small tins of 10 cigars and then be back on the fags.

For me tomorrow will mark the 24th week since I last had a cigarette and over the last 85 weeks I've fallen off the wagon 3 times - June 2010 (2 weeks Pattaya), November 2010 (2 weeks Philippines) and February/March 2011 (4 weeks Thailand & Cairns).

Mentally I'm confident I can stay off them when I'm home but I know I'm weak when I hit Thailand and will almost certainly be smoking within 2 hours of landing at swampy, however I also feel strong enough now to know that when I return home again I will leave then alone – It really is just a state of mind that you need to control.

Lastly the encouragement of friends is also invaluable – I recall putting a post on the board a few years back about giving up smoking and received an awesome PM from Mack praising me for trying and encouraging me to keep going but not to beat myself up if I failed. To this day I still think about that PM.

So Gary the only advice I can offer you is to give it a go. If you don't succeed the first time, don't beat yourself up about it, just think about the future and give it another go when you feel you are ready – It really is all about your state of mind.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF - YOU CAN DO IT !