Quitting was step one. Your lungs are still doing step two.
Years of smoke slow down the tiny sweepers in your airways and thicken the mucus they are built to move out. So it sits. That is the throat-clearing, the morning cough, the heaviness when you take a deep breath.
When you quit, those sweepers slowly wake back up. The good news almost no one hears: you can help them along, gently, every day.

