Sara's story

After 30 years of trying to quit, Sara thought she was doomed to be a smoker forever – until her GP put her in touch with LiveWell Dorset. She chose behaviour change coaching alongside stop smoking medication – and now, finally, she’s smokefree.

I started smoking when I was a teenager. I did it to impress a boy—trying not to seem boring. I don’t regret that moment because he later became my husband, and we had two beautiful children together. But that one small decision grew into a nicotine addiction that shaped my adult life more than I’d ever imagined.  

I battled with smoking for more than 30 years. I tried every method available to quit with little success.  I felt like a failure.  I tried to give up on and off when my children?were small, but I was in the grip of a real physical and psychological addiction. 

For decades, cigarettes felt like my companion. Being a single parent is tough, stepping out into the garden and lighting up, became my little break and I convinced myself it was helping me cope. In reality, it was controlling me.  

I tried everything over the years: patches, hypnosis, the Allen Carr method. I’d sometimes manage a week or two of quitting, but I always felt like I was in a constant battle—fighting a big monster in my head telling me to have a cigarette any time I felt stressed. 

Every time I failed, the shame grew. I knew smoking was killing me. I hated the money I spent on it. I hid it from my children. I felt weak, embarrassed, and convinced I would die a smoker. 

I genuinely believed I was doomed, but everything changed after my GP recommended LiveWell. From my first conversation with my LiveWell Coach, Susan, I felt hope, hope that there were still options I could try, and with Susan’s help I started a course of medication. 

 Honestly, it was a complete game changer. the tablets completely removed any desire to smoke and ensured my withdrawal symptoms were zero. This gave me 3 weeks to really think about how I wanted my future to be and to make so many positive changes. I spoke with Susan weekly and her support alongside the medication was invaluable. 

  The first couple of days on the tablets, I felt a bit dizzy and nauseous—like that woozy feeling you get from you first cigarette. To begin with I carried on smoking, but it now felt forced. By day three, I found myself asking, “What’s the point of this?” 

On day five, the curtain lifted and I threw the rest of my cigarettes away. For the first time in my life there was no lack of willpower, no demon in my head – which has been the pattern every time.  I felt euphoric—truly, breathtakingly, wonderful. I was on cloud nine, and the feeling just kept growing as the days passed. 

I decided to journal my experience. I set alarms on my phone to make sure I never missed a tablet. I listened to every piece of advice Susan gave me. I even moved bedrooms temporarily so I wouldn't wake up in the usual environment that triggered my morning cigarette. 

Susan encouraged me to reward myself. Every week, I took my “cigarette money”—about £65—and went to Waitrose for treats: posh chocolate mousses, elderflower drinks, nice ice cream. It made quitting feel joyful, not punishing. 

Finishing the tablets was the part that scared me most. I worried the medicine was doing all the work and that I would revert to being a smoker once I came off. But Susan stayed in regular contact, reassuring me. A day after stopping, I still felt fantastic. No cravings—just a light, clear feeling. 

Now, I wake up every morning smiling. I feel genuinely free for the first time in my adult life. My energy is through the roof. I exercise six days a week. I breathe better. My blood pressure and resting heart rate have both dropped significantly. I feel calmer, happier, more productive—without that jittery, nervous smoker’s energy. 

Even now, sometimes the thought crosses my mind: “This is when I’d have had a cigarette.” But it’s just that: a passing thought, not a craving, not a pull, just an echo of a past life. 

I give myself grace as my lungs and body heal. Thirty years is a long time. But I feel incredibly lucky that I’m healthy, and I know that the next 20 years of my life will be drastically better because of this change. 

My children, George, 26, and Annie, 23, are so proud. George used to be very anti-smoking when he was young, and he’d tell me off constantly. He apologises now because he understands how hard it was for me and how badly I wanted to stop smoking when he was young, and he would tell me off constantly. 

As a single parent raising two children, and working hard to build us a good life, I’ve been through some very tough times. And looking back, not once did smoking ever help me through any of it. 

Now that my children are grown up and starting their own lives, this part of the journey is for me. This is my time. 

I have no regrets - it feels like my ‘no regrets’ moments have come full circle! I know I will never smoke again.  Life is so much brighter on the other side of change. I am thrilled to be a non-smoker and have never felt so free in my life. Absolutely magical. 

I’ve been given another chance. A chance to see what adulthood is like without being a slave to nicotine.  

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