Well. this might sound a bit extreme, but here's what I did when I quit almost 8 years ago and it worked for me. I literally pretended that I was an ADDICT, like a SERIOUS DRUG ADDICT (technically that is of course true, but we tend to trivialize smoking in our own minds). Like I was doing heroine or something (I've never done drugs but I was trying to take it THAT seriously). So every time I wanted a cigarette, I would think to myself, "Well, a heroine addict can't just shoot up every now and then, so I can't smoke every now and then". I know it might sound silly or trivial, but putting it in THAT serious of a frame of mind really did help. Had I not thought of it that seriously, I know I would have been sneaking one here and there, and keeping the addiction going.
Also, I was very honest with my feelings about it. If someone said, "Hey, how's the quitting going?" I would say "It sucks!! BUT I haven't had a cigarette". I just embraced and accepted that quitting sucks.
They also say it's good to replace a bad habit with a good one. So I went simple, and chose water. When I had a craving, I would go drink a glass of water, and visualize it being a healthy choice I was making instead of an unhealthy choice, and would give myself a little pat on the back. I think all the water had the added benefit of cleansing my system faster too.
The biggest thing that made me actually quit smoking versus just saying it was this: I had heard my mother always talk about quitting, and she was always waiting until "the right time". One day it occurred to me how stupid that sounded. There will never be a right time! You're never going to wake up any morning and think "Boy, I'd love to quit today, this is going to be great!" It just doesn't happen. So once I accepted that by "waiting for the right time" I was really only keeping myself in denial, that helped a lot. The very night I came to that awareness, I actually threw my pack of cigarettes away half full, realizing, the only right time is right now! (Not suggesting you don't stick to your quit date of the 9th, but just keep in mind, whenever you do it, it WILL suck.) And that's okay. We all go through things that suck, and we always get through them.
And yes, it did get easier in time. The first few weeks were very hard, first few months a struggle, but as months wore on, I craved them less and less. To the point where now I can't stand smoking and smelling it actually makes me blue in the face and sick!
Hope some of my random memories of how I looked at it helps! It's not always a patch, or prescription, sometimes it really takes the right frame of mind. Good luck and remember: You'll NEVER regret quitting. You'll only regret it if you don't.
