"My dream goal is to simply never think about smoking." - StellaBlue, July 10, 2018.
I wrote that last summer, a few weeks into my quit. I was gaining confidence but still suffered from doubts that the above statement would never fully apply to me. I heavily identified with smoking, I still thought there was something vaguely desirable about smoking, and a few weeks into the quit I was still missing smoking with some regularity. I had hope (that I really only dared to voice here) that one day I would be non-smoker instead of an ex-smoker, but I really wasn't sure. I feared that smoking would be something I would have to remain on high alert for, something I would wish I could do once in a while, something that would pop up in my dreams and wishes and fantasies for the rest of my life. I didn't know to what extent someone could really "quit" smoking.
Guys, if we're talking about dreams and goals here, my dream goal has become true. It is my reality. I am a non-smoker. And I'm not even 9 months into my quit. And I know from my thread that this feeling started as early as 3 or 4 months in, and has only grown more solid every since. I smoked for years and year and years, and in LESS THAN ONE YEAR it's like it was all just erased from my brain. This post was inspired by reading the first couple pages of my own quit thread, and that above quote jumped off the page at me. "My dream goal." As in, my secret goal that I'm not even sure would ever even be possible. I do not think about smoking. I don't spend any time worrying that I might smoke. I don't feel like something is missing when I walk by a group of smokers or when I am stressed or when I am bored. There is no fight, there is no worry, there is no anxiety. It just doesn't factor into my day anymore. On the very rare occasion that I do think of smoking, it's usually just with gratitude and amazement that I actually quit. It would take an incredible coincidence of overlapping factors to result in me picking up a cigarette at this point. Not that it's impossible (I clearly thought it was a good idea once before in my life, so I know I'm not immune to thinking that again), but it's exceedingly unlikely. And I know what all those potential factors would be, so I am pretty well armed to see them coming and get out of the way before disaster strikes.
I can't believe my dream goal has come true. How cool is that.
Can't believe that it's been 9 months already. Keep on keeping us updated with your progress, we love to hear about success. 
