I'm 56 years old Started smoking age 25 and smoked knowing I needed to quit.Finally quit 15 years later. One thing that helped was wife and my jobs were transferred to Atlanta. The old group of friends InBirmingham were largely smokers. The new friends we made in Atlanta were largely non-smokers. So surrounding urself with people that don't have the habit your trying to quit, whether it be smoking, drinking, drugging, went a long way in helping me quit. Changing environments to surround myself with non-using, positive role models and severing ties (at least until u'r sure u've quit) helps. Hard to do and not everyone can do that. Stayed quit for 10 years moved to a small town on coast of Alabama where it seems a lot of people smoke. A friend went outside restaurant to smoke and, famous last words, "I want one...I can just smoke one. So started back smoking for 5 years up until my hepatologist (I have cirrhosis) told me it was time to get on the liver transplant waiting list. So I guess it was sort of another "change of environment". The decision was made for me. Keep smoking (an absolute no-no when applying/on the wait list and have a chance at a new liver/lease on life. Or continue smoking, get rejected for transplant waiting list and die. So I won't call my self lucky, but this last time was much easier because it was truly life or death that I quit smoking.