Stop Smoking

Day 4 was rough. I spent the whole day wanting to smoke. I hit the 24 hour mark, which is a feat in itself. And I needed one bad. More than half of our Helpdesk was not in this morning so we were really busy. I was really stressing out about it after the boss came and made some comments. I didn’t have any coffee, either. Recap: No smokes, no caffeine, high stress. That’s not good.

I managed to stay strong and tough it out. I placed the patch on the left side of my abdomen, just above my hip. I don’t think that’s a good place for it, in retrospect. The arms are the place they should go. I am going to have to shave both of my arms by the time this is all done. Oh, well. It will just make me faster walking through the office.

After work, we went to the bar, which never helps. I was really needing one when I was there by myself, but once the other guys arrived, it was much better.

The lady was over last night for a bit. Right as she was leaving, the thought popped into my head that I would get to have a smoke after she left. Then I remembered that I quit. Duh. That idea would always pop into my head right before she left. I never smoked around her, but she’s aware of the situation. She’s never said anything about it, but she’s willing to support me in my effort to quit. It’s very helpful and greatly appreciated.

I signed up for Committed Quitters during lunch. I received my personal quitting plan late in the day and I will update tomorrow with what it says.

I left the patch on last night and did not have any nightmares like I did the first night. I am guessing this is because I had still been smoking on the first couple days, so I may have had an abnormal amount of nicotine in my body. I guess I will continue testing this out.

As a final note, several coworkers seemed impressed that I was quitting using the patch. One of them was pretty inquisitive and hopefully he’ll quit soon too.