Sorry I don’t know how to link, but look at my answer to “How can I encourage a loved one to quit smoking?” by Juniper. I smoked heavily for half my life and never imagined I could quit. And then one day I did.
Let me start off by saying you should NOT QUIT smoking. Because the word “quit” is wrong, and this is where your problem lies. You are a smoker, smoke regularly, and are thinking of making the sacrifice of not smoking in order to avoid dying of cancer. This won’t work. You have to completely change your way of thinking.
Start thinking of yourself as a non-smoker who just happens to have a few cigarettes every now and then. Just like when you were when you first started, before you became addicted (I am assuming you are addicted, or else you’d be able to kick it easily). And then reduce the cigarettes. Or rather increase the periods of non-smoking between them.
When I quit, I didn’t actually go out to quit. I made the conscious decision to smoke as much as I want, whenever I want, but ENJOY IT. If I’m going to add a nail to my coffin, I might as well cherish the taste for now. I stopped smoking all them “stupid cigarettes” on the keyboard (which gets it dirty anyway) and while driving and just because someone else is doing it. Smoking became a ritual I really enjoyed, but only did when I really wanted to. And it tasted better. And I went from 34 down to 4 within a week, then down to 1 the next one, and one day I just quit. The step from 1 to 0 was a lot tougher from 34 to 1, but my body was already fairly clean, so I just had to deal with the mental side of it.
I can try and explain it, but I think I’m not all that good. One book that really helped (exactly because it’s NOT patronising and it DOESN’T keep nagging you like you’d expect) is Allan Carr’s (I think I saw a link here somewhere). So don’t quit yet, just read the book.
Incidentally an alcoholic is not someone who drinks a lot of alcohol. It is someone who thinks about alcohol all the time, even when they haven’t had a sip for months. Similarly, you can stay off cigarettes for days or even weeks, but as long as you’re still a smoker you’ll simply suffer, and eventually go back to it. So try to change the way you view smoking before anything else.
And, as I said in the other answer, it is not about preventing you from dying young. It is all about helping you live a better life while you’re alive.