Joe - 

I want to share with you something that has completely changed how I've approached this quit.  In the past - I, like you, assumed that I would not be able to handle certain situations without smoking.  For me - it was playing pool and poker.  Whenever I quit, I would make sure to avoid going into smoky bars where I used to play pool and smoke.  It would help me avoid the temptation, and since I didn't have the temptation, I was able to sustain some fairly long quits.  One of these lasted for 6 months.  However, eventually I got to the place where I felt like I was depriving myself of something I enjoyed.  After all, it's been 6 months, why not go for a quick game of pool?  And since it had been so long since I had any cravings, I had forgotten how hard it was to quit and the importance of not smoking.  So I would tell myself - since I've lasted so long, what's the harm in just having 1 cigarette? This attempt to re-write the law of addiction would inevitably lead back to full time smoker status.  However, based on what I've learned here and through whyquit.com, I have taken a different approach.  I have not given up anything other than taking nicotine into my body.  You can do it too!  You can still have your coffee and not smoke.  YOu can still enjoy an occasional drink and not smoke.  It's not impossible.  The thing is - walk into the situation prepared for what you will face.  Some people are addicted to alcohol and need to NTAD, just like here we NTAP, and if that's the case for you - then certainly giving up drinking is a GREAT thing!  But don't do it because you will be "forced" to smoke, do it because you are choosing to not be enslaved to an addiction to alcohol.  There are certainly plenty of people who have given up drinking and smoking at the same time, but there are also plenty of "social drinkers"  who need to go through the experience of having a drink without smoking.  The caution here is in getting so inebriated that your mental awareness drops to a level where you start making bad decisions (i.e. dancing on a table with your shirt off, running on the highway, smoking a cigarette). When I quit, I made certain I went the first week with 0 alcohol, then I had just a glass of wine with dinner and was able to make it through that.  Then I had some drinks at home, then I went back to the pool hall and had only soda, then I went to the pool hall and had a beer, and finally I was able to go and have a couple shots of whiskey with a soda chaser and KNOW that I was not going to need to smoke.  My advice is to take it slow, prove to yourself that you can do it, and learn to do the things that you did as a smoker now as an ex-smoker. But the most important thing is... no matter what - keep your commitment to Never Take Another Puff and you will remain free from this addiction!!

Jason 
Free from nicotine for 24 days, 13 hours, 55 Mins
I have refrained from smoking 492 cigarettes and saved $135.33 while adding 1 day, 16 hours, and 58 minutes to my life