The smell is everywhere

Pretty much the same deal as the first day. I’ve been helping out our local hardware store with their network, got a couple friends who work there, so I decided to help them out (they really needed it).

Got in my truck the first day to go over there and realized how fucking terrible my truck smells. Going to have to get it detailed to get the smell of smoke out I think.

Get there, and realize that a vast majority of the employees smoke, which I already had an idea of. One guy would walk by me and I could tell he had just come in from having a cigarette. I was amazed how well I could smell it on him, and I wasn’t even very close to him.

Other than that, it’s not been bad. I’ve been told to watch out for the third week, so we’ll see. Money and Sydney are big motivators.

I’d love to have a cigarette, but won’t. I haven’t had one since Sunday, been too long without one to give in now.

It was a really long day

I didn’t have nearly the urge to go outside just to smoke like I thought I would. I did manage to keep pretty busy though, so I attribute the apparent “ease” to that. I really had no nicotine cravings, the patch definitely did its job.

I did have a few instances yesterday where I got this urge to go outside for a cigarette, but got past it by doing a bit of physical activity. If that urge was still there, I’d just sit down and start working to get my mind off it. The physical activity usually took care of it, though.

I’m currently on the 21mg patch, and will be using it for 4 weeks. Then I’l step down to the 14mg patch for 2 weeks, and then down to a 7mg patch for another 2 weeks.

I’ve never been this long without a cigarette before, feels good man.

I’ve been a smoker for 10+ years

I’ve been wanting to stop for long time now. I tried the e-cigarettes, but they just didn’t do it for me. Gum, patches, pretty much everything else. I don’t smoke just for nicotine, as explained below.

My brother and his girlfriend recently quit, after calling Quitline Iowa. That was about two months ago and they’re still smoke free, which is awesome. I called the Iowa Quitline a few weeks ago and got a bunch of nicotine patches, and tomorrow, March 10, is my quit date. So, today is my last day of smoking!

I’m kind of anxious about how tomorrow will go. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is smoke a cigarette, and that’s gonna be hard not to do. I’ll put a patch on instead first thing after waking up.

I’m not anxious about not having the nicotine, as I’ll get it via a patch, but I mostly smoke just for something to do. It’s become a reason for me to go outside and get away from things for a few minutes. So, the anxiety comes mostly from wondering how exactly to break from this routine of going out for a smoke every 1.5-2 hours.

I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do to get past that. Probably just stay super busy, which I am, thankfully. It’s for sure going to be a difficult routine to break. I’d gladly accept any tips or ideas from ex-smokers on how to get past my urge to go outside and smoke, just for the sake of going outside for a few minutes.

I’ll update with more posts as I progress, and, hopefully, will have a post up on Tuesday about how I’ve been smoke free for one whole day!

Wish me luck, I’ll need it.