It's been my experience, based on the several times I've tried to quit smoking, that the first few days are surprisingly easy. Well.. maybe easy is not the right word, but certainly bearable. What makes it bearable for me is using nicotine patches. You can say all you want about how I'm just substituting one nicotine delivery system for another; but the patches deliver a far less amount of nicotine during the day than with all the cigarettes and without all the smoke. Plus, it stabilizes my mood so that I don't wind up getting fired or divorced. The most important thing that the patch does; however, it to keep me from getting cigarettes and lighting up "just one...or maybe two". If I don't put a fresh one on first thing in the morning, I will "put it off" and I will smoke before the day is over. So my ritual in the mornings has become exercising, showering, patch; with no opportunity to think about it or let my mind create any of the excuses that seem to be perfectly reasonable at the time.
After the first few days though....man! I get brief and very intense cravings periodically through the day. They only last a second or two but make me almost want to cry because the are so powerful.
I'm hoping that will pass.
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