Hello everybody! I want to begin first by apologizing for not updating you all sooner with a hub about my personal journey of quitting smoking. I started out pretty well with the updates, and then life became a crazy mess for a bit, and because of that I have not been updating you all like I've wanted to.

So I'm here to update you, but first I would like to thank some of my friends who have been so kind and supportive on facebook, digg, mixx, blogspot, twitter, and of course...my favorite writing arena, HubPages! To name a few of these friends, I'll begin with Birte Edwards.

Birte, let me thank you for being supportive of my non-smoking cause with your encouragement and wonderful life lessons coaching. I love following your links through facebook and your encouragement has been great. Let me say that you find a way to inspire people and your dedication to doing so is impressive...thank you because you continue to inspire me.

I would also like to thank a few others for your continual comments of encouragement...Dink96, Trooper22, Alissa1985, ESAHS, G-Ma Johnson, Hawkesdream, frogdropping, frogyfish, ClareBaros, lilroberts94, JAS to name just a few...THANK YOU!!

I want you all to know that your comments, thoughts, and emails are producing this hub right here! So with that statement, I will get on with the update!

I began my journey of quitting smoking on the evening of Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 9:24pm, just about 20 days ago. Honestly, I've been thrown some curveballs in life that were a little unexpected and that has challened my will-power in this endeavor.

But I am very happy to report that the battle is STILL ON! I have now quit smoking for 19 full days plus, AND I am feeling so much better physically and mentally about what I am doing at this point.

To begin to summarize this, the first week of quitting was very rough for me. The end of the first week was better than the beginning of the first week for sure. And I know I keep repeating this, but I WAS faced with some personal life challenges at the end of the first week of quitting. I'm saying this because these challenges really made me want to smoke...but I didn't.

The second week of quitting as a whole was much easier than the first week no doubt. And now, in my third week of quitting, things are so much easier.

Now that I've said that, I want to mention some things that I have noticed that are happening in my mind and my body at this stage of the game. I have to share this information because it could potentially help others that are quitting or others that chose to quit in the future or maybe even just help someone that knows someone that is struggling with this.

In Week 2 of quitting I really noticed that the physical cravings diminshed greatly. I AM using nicotine patches to help my quitting, but the change in physical cravings was so significant for me in Week 2 compared to Week 1 that I have to believe what I felt would be true no matter what method is used to quit.

And Week 3 has been great actually. I now have had many moments where I used to think about smoking where it doesn't even cross my mind...progress for sure! I have found that my overall irritation level and my "feeling of loss" that was so strong in Week 1 are hardly a problem in Week 3. Actually it's very amazing how much better I am able to handle this emotionally in Week 3 compared to Week 1 of quitting.

It is also amazing how much better I am feeling physically. I have to say that my breathing is better, I am beginning to taste food better, breathing through my nose is much easier, and I am actually sleeping better! I had no idea that smoking affected one's sleep, but my experience has shown me in this short amount of time that SMOKING CAN DEFINITELY AFFECT YOUR SLEEP PATTERN NEGATIVELY.

And another physical thing that I want to mention, no matter how gross this may sound (I apologize for this!), I am just now beginning to cough up small amounts of flem that look dark like they are filled with tar! YUCK!! As I read helpful information about quitting, coughing up flem seems to be a typical thing that happens when you do quit smoking.

The material that I have read relates this flem to the nicotine build-up on the lining of the lungs breaking free. The tar that builds up in your lungs while you are smoking closes down the lung capacity, but as you stop smoking, the tar stops building up in the lungs. The fact is as the lungs are healing, this tar begins to break lose and is shown through coughing it up.

Right now, I can only imagine the time when my lungs are healed enough, and I have regained the lung capacity to go out and jog a straight mile without being so winded. That will be a great day, but because of my habit, I'm sure this will be a bit down the road for me.

I guess the biggest thing emotionally that I feel right now besides happiness (because I am finally quitting) is regret. That is absolute regret that I did not do this sooner. Regret that I have been damaging my body in such a terrible way.

I know I'm sort of jumping around here in this hub and I apologize for that, but I am going to say just a few more short things before I quit writing here tonight.

#1. By NO MEANS have I "arrived." I am trying to continually keep the respect for this addiction in an effort to never allow it to creep back into my life.

#2. At almost 3 full weeks of quitting, YES, I still have many cravings and psychological "pulls" toward the addiction. YES, the negative things that I felt the first day I quit are still here, but seem to be exponentially decreasing as the days pass by now. That's the only way I can find to explain it.

And I also wanted to say that what I said in #1 and #2 was simply to preface the most important thing tonight:

#3. If YOU are at point where you are tired of smoking, but you are continuing to smoke (like I did) because you think that you cannot quit...YOU ARE WRONG!!

Please get the information or assistance that you need and believe ME when I tell you that just a few short weeks ago, I WAS YOU. And now...guess what?? I am STILL YOU. What?? I am a smoker that is addicted to smoking. What's the ONLY difference between us right now?? I've simply gone without a cigarette for three weeks!

I'm making these statements because I am here to tell you that YOU CAN DO THIS TOO! I want you to join me. Sure you've probably tried before and failed...so what! Try again, you know it's worth it. Find the important reasons in your life that you do have and let them be the driving force behind trying to quit again. Don't be negative about quitting if it doesn't work out the first time, because it is sometimes through many failures that we finally succeed.

And what I keep telling myself now is..."there isn't anything that's THIS important to my life, there isn't anything that's THIS significant, there isn't anything in my life worthwhile that I am not really going to have to work hard for." And..."the investment is in myself...how hard am I willing to work for myself to live better...and longer?"

I can personally tell you that it's just a matter of time. How busy can you keep yourself for 3 weeks? Can you do one day of quitting? Then turn it into two days??

All I can truly speak of is three weeks behind me in this hub...but I can tell you that if you truly WANT to quit, in only three short weeks, you will feel great about your decision and the decision will be so much easier...it really is only a matter of time.

I want to thank you all for reading this. And every day of this journey has truly been a spiritual victory for me. If you've never smoked a cigarette and don't understand this first hand, first of all...THAT'S GREAT!! But maybe something here can help you NOT lose faith in that person you know that's tried to quit and has failed? After all, this is a very hard thing to do!

But for me, just three very short weeks after quitting, I am already seeing and FEELING huge rewards for doing so.

Please everyone, continue with your encouragement...it has helped me so much. You probably won't understand how much you've helped me so far. But I need to put another three weeks behind me to feel that much stronger in this fight, so please keep up the support! I need all of that I can get.

I'm going to go now, but I will try to update you all again as soon as possible. And I want to say one more time, thank you for going through this with me by reading, I truly feel your support. ~ Scott : )