[jamesk14022]

Smoked on and off between 17 and 21. Took me about 8 months full of relapses to finally stop completely - psychological addiction was far harder to break than I first anticipated.

In my case, I realised I had been self medicating for some mild pervasive anxiety without explicitly acknowledging it. Although smoking calms anxiety temporarily - it tends to exasperate it in the the longer term - creating a vicious cycle of excessive smoking for me. Once I started to take action on this underlying issue, smoking became far easier to quit. So, find the underlying issue, why do you feel the need to smoke so much? Lack of alternative activities? Loneliness? Mental health issues?

Hope my anecdote can help you out - my life is FAR better after investing the effort in quitting. You'll wish you had done it sooner, but do not underestimate the willpower it will likely take.

[random_kris]

did you quit on your own? or did you seek a specialist to treat your anxiety. I think I am also self medicating because of anxiety. Like when I am sober after long day I am anxious for unknown reasons but after I smoke I get calm... yesterday I had a epiphany that I smoke because I don't really have any real long term hobbies. Only projects that I wnat to start or stuff that I want to learn... but everything is in a planning phase not in execution phase if you get what I mean.

[jamesk14022]

I didn't have access to a specialist in this case but I have used one in the past for something else and he was super helpful for me.

Just the act of vocalising all your thoughts to someone can bring a great deal more clarity to the situation.