You have done marvelous work by educating yourself, Angeleek, and have built yourself a fine, sturdy quit. I am so glad you are sharing your quit with us !
I quit on a whim, cold turkey, and did not prepare at all.
I just decided I would try not smoking for a year as an experiment, if I didn't like it, I could always smoke again.
Days in, I found Joel Spitzer's Video Library and my education began.
I couldn't 'turn if off like a light switch'.
It took almost a year of craves and triggers for my brain to be really Free, reliably free, consistently free
but, I knew from the very first day that I was committed to my 'experiment' and the power behind that commitment propelled me through the gnarly times.