And how long have you been a non-smoker?
For me, at the time it was the realization that I cannot continue to smoke and continue to play the trumpet. My lung volume and strength really suffered. But instead of stopping to smoke, for many months I played less and less trumpet.
What put me through the phase of actually smoking the last cigarette and becoming a non-smoker again, was one of the books of Allen Carr, I don’t remember the exact title. Looking back, it was awfully written, and I had to will my way through believing the narrative, but it worked. That was 27 years ago, and I didn’t have one cigarette since, no cravings and no replacement either.
I smoked for ~12 years. I was hospitalized for liver and kidney failure and would go sit out front of the hospital a couple times a day with my IV tree and have a smoke. I quit the day before my transplant surgery, figured it was time to start again better. Haven’t had a cigarette in 6 years.