What helped most in the early days? Didn't really matter as I had made a total commitment. NOTHING would have made me smoke during the time period I set forth for the quit. Lent - however many days it was at that time 11 years ago (40+ days) is what I committed to. That inviolate commitment IS actually what helped the most. If your commitment is total - the rest is kind of a secondary thing. What helped most for me was agreeing to stop for a specified amount of time. We're all different and approach our quits in different ways. A set finite quit period was easier for me to adhere and agree to then just saying I'm quitting FOREVER! So putting limitations on my quit time was a psychological tool that helped me.
I knew full well that if I actually adhered to my commitment of 40+ days, there is no way in hell I was going to just chuck it all away the day after my self agreed upon commitment time ended. Having had a couple of quits in the past - I knew I never wanted to go through that Day One process again. And that technique worked for me.
On a secondary level, we need to combat the cravings. And I did rely pretty heavily on "pretend" smoking straws. And drinking a lot of water. And taking a lot of slow deep breaths. It wasn't until after I quit that I became acquainted with on-line support. Once I was, I posted on a regular basis. They didn't offer the kind of in-depth knowledge base support that is here on EX, (EX wasn't created until 2 years after I had quit), but at least I could communicate with others going through the process and that helped a LOT! Just being able to complain and bitch and ask questions was a great help. And equally so jumping in and offering support to others. It's amazing how reinforcing that can be for newbies!
