I'm going to have to try that gum!
I quit smoking March 24, 1999. I love not smoking. It's terrific. I started at age 11. The idea of starting at age 7 is mind boggling. Wow.
You've got some great sensory flashbacks coming up once your sense of taste and smell start recovering. My first real scent of the ocean again was outstanding. It's like coming alive and falling in love again. Even the warm smell of parking lot asphalt in the summer heat brings back a Californian day memory from when I was a kid. I love those days. There's also the cool scent of a waning afternoon into evening just as the shadows are growing long across the grass. This scent is often so subtle that as a smoker it's just not discernable to you.
What helped me?
One, that urge--realize that after a while it's no different than having an urge for a piece of pie or a particular food of any sort. It passes.
Two, logic. Quitting smoking is logical. You know how people like to use that excuse, "you have to want to quit to be successful?" I used it for years. Nope, no way, and forget about it. You go to work most every day of every year, right? I know I do crap I don't want to do nearly every darned day. We do what we have to do. Bottom line: Wanting has nothing to do with anything. Logic helps.
Three, drink lots of water. Have a glass of water in your hand at all times. This helpful trick was passed on to me. It works. You get to have something in your hands. You are turning the urge from a drag to a sip of water. The water cleanses out the body faster. You'll also eat less and gain a little less weight.
Four, popcorn. air popped. Not the loaded calorie crap.
Five, remember that great ability to exhale frustration or just sigh with all that smoke and none the wiser? Fuck 'em. Exhale when you need to. Turn it into a yawn if need be, just get that building tension out of the body.
Exercise helps. One thing it most certainly does is let you know what an asshole you were for smoking all those years. My lungs have recovered nicely--but I know I did damage there. Yoga is great for getting rid of tension. Check out Rodney Yee, Power Yoga for Beginners. I like him.
Good luck! I kicked a thirty year habit of 3 to 3 1/2 packs a day. If I died tomorrow the effort it took was worth it. You can do it.
