The only thing that got me through the cravings which were constant was that I agreed to the commitment NO MATTER WHAT and NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TOOK to get over that constant wanting. Personally in that first week I never found a craving to only last 3 minutes. Not when wave upon wave of them would be back to back. Sometime during the days there's be a brief calm before the new set rolled in. A moment of non-cigarette thinking. What bliss it was! I did trust the words of those who had been through the process, however. I believed what they said about the fact that eventually it wouldn't be so bad. Took a while, but it was true. Day by day the cravings would get fewer and farther between. And then the surprise of getting through one whole day without desperately wanting one. And eventually, with practice, you learn to just shrug them off.
I was a cold turkey quitter, but I think for the majority of us, the first week is simply a misery. No matter what aid you're using. They don't call it Hell Week for nothing. But I'm here to tell you too, it WILL get better. IF you're willing to stay the course. Unfortunately the cure for this is time. Because the journey is about a mind switch. And changing our mind - takes time.
The more you can accept your choice to quit, the more you can agree to go through whatever it takes, the easier the journey becomes. It's because the option to smoke is still alive that you're struggling so. If you take away the option (pretend, if need be, that cigarettes don't exist, as if they simply stopped manufacturing them), you'll find it speeds up the process. https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/thread/1863-the-possibility-door
