I called this Zero Day because the goal was to smoke zero cigarettes on this day.  The day isn’t over, but I have not touched a cigarette to these lips all day.  It has been a struggle and a challenge, but I am victorious.  Oddly, even with the patch, I had to overcome the cravings.  Is the patch less nicotine than I was getting from the cigs?  Must be, cause the withdrawal and craving was not purely psychological.  When I feel the cravings my gums itch, my eyes gets watery, I clinch my jaw.

I think this may be the first full day in 2 decades that I haven’t smoked a single hit of a cigarette.  Tomorrow will be the first time I’ve ever gone two days in a row without smoking a cigarette.  I’m not counting eggs.  I simply must believe that tomorrow will get easier.  I must believe that today’s suffering will be remembered and that the next time I crave, I can look back to today and know that I can overcome.

I have tried to quit smoking more times that I can count.  They say the average person tried 8 or 12 times before they were successful at quitting.  I think I got that beat.  I am successful today.  I will never try to quit smoking again.  This has to be it.  The goal for tomorrow is the same as today, Zero.  When I think about how much I have suffered in this life as a result of cigarettes, I know I dare not risk the taste of one again.

I don’t regularly go to church.  I went to church today and the sermon had to do with the way people define themselves.  Today, I defined myself as a non-smoker.  Today I found my freedom.