It is almost as if someone has got a grip on your throat and is slowly squeezing the very life out of you. To make things worse you start stumbling and have to reach out to steady yourself from falling.

You reach out and you feel a hand. It is not a strong supporting hand but a wet, slimy and cold hand that makes you shudder. But you hold on to it to steady yourself.

Then before you know what happened, the hand gives you a tug and sends you whirling around. You try to stop yourself from going round and round but you cannot.

The hand keeps on exerting force that you can hardly resist. You feel dizzy and realize that you will hit the floor at any moment. The experience is sheer agony.

You do not want to fall down because you realize to your horror that the tunnel has started filling with water. But then you stop caring. Your agony is so great that you just want to fall down and die.

At this moment when you feel that all is lost and you are about to lose your senses, you see a sudden ray of light; the exit of the tunnel.

If only you could get there. If only you could steady yourself. You make one last effort to stop swirling around and to your surprise you stop. But your head is swimming so much that the exit of the tunnel keeps passing in front of your eyes. You topple over and you are on your hands and feet. The water is dangerously close to your head. You literally crawl towards the opening but you just can’t seem to reach there. At last, after what seems like eternity, you reach the opining of the tunnel.

But you are so exhausted with your efforts that you just want to lie where you are with your eyes shut and so that is what you do. You lie there for what seems to be a very long time but in effect is only a couple of hours. And then the feeling seems to disappear almost as fast as it appeared. You mind starts getting clearer and clearer and you find it much easy to breathe.

Then the ecstasy comes. You cannot believe what you see as you stare upwards into the bluest sky that you have ever seen and after your dark experience in the tunnel you had almost stopped believing that there could be any thing bright in this world. But here it is – the bluest sky ever.
It isn't this way for everyone, but perhaps it is for you. The bad times will end, and the realization that you are no longer a slave to cigarettes will come. Don't give up. You can quit smoking.

When you start your first day of quitting, in the morning you will feel very glad about it. You might experience an uneasy feeling once or twice but it does not affect you very much and you start wondering about the great fuss that is made about quitting.

But as the day progresses, the feeling gets worse and it’s almost like a monster raising its fearful head every now and then. If you are chain smoker this feeling becomes terrible as the clock ticks away and by noon time, it becomes almost unbearable.

You start feeling terrible and it is almost as if something has taken possession of your body and mind. You end up feeling so depressed that you begin to think, “What the hell? Who cares a damn about quitting?”

But this is not the worst. The worst is still to come. It is almost as if you are at one end of a tunnel and have started advancing. As you keep moving forward, the darkness of the tunnel engulfs you. You inch forward slowly at first and then at a faster pace. But the tunnel seems endless. There is no end to the darkness. It is so black inside that you can almost walk on the darkness.

There doesn’t seem to even a glimmer of light. To make things worse you lose your sense of direction and do not know whether you are advancing or retreating. Along with that the air starts to get stuffy. You find it increasingly difficult to breathe and before you know it you are gasping for breath.

When you are experiencing these feelings you begin to wonder if you will ever be happy again. But don't worry. These difficult times won't last forever.

I've been writing about how important it is to get a good night's sleep each night while you are trying to quit smoking. Here are some tips for falling asleep quickly in case you have trouble with insomnia.

• Don't eat two hours before bed time. It is difficult to get a decent sleep with your tummy full. So try to have supper at least two hours before your bed time. And keep supper as light as possible. If you have a heavy meal there is a greater chance for you to have disturbing dreams and even nightmares…oooooh!

• Have a glass of warm milk at least 30 minutes before going to bed. Milk is the best sedative that nature has to offer so go for it by all means. In order to really make your eyelids droop, just before boiling add a pinch of ground ginger, pinch of cinnamon and 1 clove. But remember; drink it warm, not hot. A date along with the glass of milk is the classic sedative that has stood the test of time.

• Wash your feet and calves up to the knees in warm water. And also wash your hands and forearms. It really works!

• Gently massage feet and calves, hands and forearms for few minutes preferably with some moisturizer or baby oil

• Diffuse some lavender essential oil in the room 30 minutes before bed time. This will help tremendously.

• No reading in bed and absolutely NO television.

• If you are a light sleeper shut off all disturbances like a loud clock, a dripping faucet, a telephone that might ring or even a creaky bed.