40 days and counting!

Well, I am finally giving it and honest try. I haven`t had a cigarette since the beginning of April, about 40 days ago. I have always done a lot of talking about not smoking, and actually I was never really that heavy of a smoker (compared to most people anyway).

So far it hasn`t been too bad. It seems that if I am not around people who are smoking then I don`t think about it much. The big problem is when I go out to a bar, or when I am just sitting around with friends and having a few beers. That`s when the cravings really start to hit.

The idea of quitting never really occured to me either. I kind of just fell into it at first. When I got back from Hiroshima at the start of April, I had just happened to be out of cigarettes, and for some reason I just didn`t buy more. Soon, a whole week had gone by without a smoke. Then I had a night where I was drinking a bit and didn`t smoke. From then I decided just to see how long I could stretch it out. When I passed the 1-month point, I made up my mind that there is actually no reason for me to smoke any more.

As my family recently found out, it is virtually impossible to go anywhere where you can`t smoke in Japan. Restaurants still allow smoking. You can smoke in designated rooms at hospitals. Heck, you can even smoke in the teachers lounge at school! Packs are $3 cdn, so it is a very tempting to walk down the street and pass a cigarette vending machine every 30 seconds.

Anyway, gonna let `er rip, and hope for the best. I`ve decided that I want to live a long life, so this is my first real step in achieving that. Wish me luck!