Woohoo!!! I made it through day 1 and am on day 2. A few strong cravings yesterday but I've actually had an hour or so at a time where I didn't actually think about smoking. I think that's the thing that I hated most the last time I quit -- obsessing over smoking for the first three months or so. The cool thing is that even though the last time I quit smoking was 15 years ago, a lot of the things I learned then kicked in yesterday. That's good news.

My husband received a stressful call last night from his adult son's mother...It was a situation that normally would have sent me outside to smoke and I thought multiple times, "I need to smoke, I want to smoke." BUT I DIDN'T SMOKE. That is cause for celebration...a small one...but a celebration of victory because I can do this not smoking thing and it's ok; i'm not gonna die from it; it's not impossible. 

I looked around the forums and read some of the posts and some of the materials for newbies yesterday and I'll do some today as well. I listened/watched one of the Why Quit videos. These are things that mentally help me. Belonging to something positive and good with other positive and good people around is super important. 

Physical symptoms - headache, tightness in the chest, a little bit of GERD, difficulty falling asleep.

Deep breathing (in for five, hold for five, release and repeat) helped a lot throughout the day.

I used bourbon to help with the sleeping thing. Not a great idea in hindsight. Next time I'll try a self guided meditation instead of self-medication. 

I need to identify substitute activities: take a walk, clean a drawer, organize a closet...

I want to be healthy and enjoy my new physical energy. I don't know whether this is nervous withdrawal energy or what but I only needed one cup of coffee this morning and that's after only about four hours of sleep.

I need to take better care of myself.

I'm so glad I've taken this first step down the no smoking road and hopped on this quit train!