Hi Tell19,
Congratulations on quitting for 4 days now!
By day 3 most of the nicotine has been cleansed from your body, but not the mental urge to smoke. The mental part takes longer to take back control over, especially since you have smoked for 47 years.
Trevor gave you some good tips about breaking your routine and avoiding the triggers. And posting and venting helps to subside the urges too.
There is a lot of great advice buried here in the forums, you just need to discovery them by reading. That's the best advice I can give you right now. Read, read, read. The more you know about what to expect, and how to deal with the unexpected, the easier it "should" be for you. You can also learn from other users mistakes and the pitfalls.
Believe it or not, breathing can also help to manage the urges. Take in a slow deep breath through your nose. Hold about 5 seconds and exhale slowly through your mouth. Do this 4-5 times and you'll be amazed how it helps to handle the urges. Don't do it too fast though or you might get too light headed pass out.
Change your routines, go for walks or swims. Go visit places where you are not allowed to smoke like museums, shopping centers, library's and so on. Keep busy as best you can so you don't have time to think about not smoking.
The urges will eventually subside and become more tolerable for you, but how long it takes is different for each person. Hang in there, it WILL get better.
I see that you have not went through the "my program" at the top of the page yet. You might want to go through it, it has some good tips to help you on your quit journey.
Stay strong, and keep us posted on your progress okay? I wish you the best on your journey to freedom.
Not One Puff Ever
