I was so exhausted yesterday (Day 1 on the patch), I took a one-hour nap after work! I felt pretty foggy-headed much of the day, and obviously thought about cigarettes a LOT, but looked up resources on this site or took a walk on my breaks at work instead of smoking. In the evening--which has always been the hardest time for me, when I really just want to hide out back and smoke after a long day--I worked out, ate a ginormous fruit salad, watched a favorite TV show and did some yoga. I found half of a cigarette and contemplated smoking it, but beat the urge because I honestly just could not give up the first day I've made it without smoking in so long. I wanted to prove to myself that the value of my health and well-being is greater than this addiction.
This morning, I realized how tough really stressful situations are going to be when I started CRYING over some random thing that I would have used as an excuse to light up before. I cried for a minute, went back to solving the problem, cried again, and then I took a walk and just told myself that I would tackle the situation with a can-do attitude---and I solved the problem within two minutes.
So...it's obviously going to be a long road, but if I can make it 36 hours, I can keep going. Slow death by cancer is infinitely more stressful than dealing with everyday events without having cigarettes as a crutch.
