[Shakur]

Hi historyteach!,

I smoked for 15 years, and had my last cigarette a few days before May 2nd. I used the patch, and tapered down. Nicotine and alcohol were my gateways into harder substances, the foundations of my House Of Cards, so to speak.

Cigarettes have a PROFOUND EMOTIONAL IMPACT, AND ACT AS A STIMULANT/ANTIDEPRESSANT, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I cried and bitched and moaned like a little girl through several weeks of my quit. My sponsor and girlfriend took the most of my bitching, but then, it just vanished.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. You simply cannot believe what your nicotine-deceived body (mind is body, body is mind) is trying to tell you: I must smoke to survive.

You will feel better. The body was happy before it smoked, much happier, when you were young and free. It remembers these times, and will revert to them if you do not reinforce the urge to smoke by smoking.

Cry, yell, bitch, moan, whimper, whine, gnash...just don't smoke, and then, the storm will have vanished, in time.

All urges are conditioned, even hunger. (Hence Gandhi could hungerstrike for weeks without wanting to eat) Don't reinforce them, and they recede.

Be Well,
Joe