The First Week of Being a Non-Smoker

Fortunately, there are a number of tips you can use to ensure your success. Before you quit, or even if you are quitting right now, remember these important tips:

• Remind yourself that each craving is a temporary, transient experience. If you can distract yourself for just five minutes, you will likely succeed over the craving.
• Remember your reasons for quitting, too. Your motivations are your own, but they can be a great way to keep yourself on track when you are experiencing difficult cravings or emotions. Consider keeping a list for yourself; this will help to keep you on track.
• At some point, your brain is going to try to rationalize having a cigarette. If you can  determine what these rationalizations will be in advance, you can help to convince yourself to avoid them when they occur. For example, you may rationalize that one cigarette won’t be the end of the world or taking a hit from supposedly the best vape around does not count as cheating. You may decide that a difficult situation warrants having a cigarette. Or, you may decide that smoking when you drink alcohol is ok, as long as you don’t smoke the rest of the time. By identifying these in advance, you can remind yourself that they are rationalizations when they occur. This can prevent you from falling back into those same daily habits.

• Drinking water is extremely important. Water will help to remove nicotine from your system more quickly, but is also extremely important for general health. This will also give you something to preoccupy yourself with. Additionally, drinking plenty of water will help to ward off food cravings. While coffee and alcohol may make cravings worse, instead of better, herbal tea and fruit juice is also a good choice.
• Practice distraction techniques when your cravings or difficult emotions occur. Remember that it may seem as if everything is stacked against your quitting efforts at times. Again, these are temporary thought processes. With will power, distraction, and keeping yourself busy, you can keep yourself from becoming mired in these thoughts.
• Change your routine, from the very first day you quit. If you typically wake up, and smoke while drinking, consider waking up and going to a local coffee shop for your java.  Avoid other situations in which you would normally smoke. Right after meals, during your drive or commute to work, and when you first get home from work are all high-risk points in time. Consider what you can do differently around these times throughout the day. Maybe you choose to take the bus home from work, rather than drive. Or, perhaps you go out to eat for the first few days. Do whatever you need to do to stay away from smoking.
• Reach out to your contact network. This may be friends, therapists, or family members who have agreed to support you while you quit smoking. Just speaking with a friend for five minutes can sometimes be enough to get through a craving.

During the first week without cigarettes, you will also likely experience:

• Cravings
  The nicotine itself is the addictive ingredient in smokeless tobacco, as well as in vape juices and e-liquids, which is why some smokers switch to zero-nicotine vaping. You will still experience cravings, although you will crave your chosen tobacco form.
• Irritability and Intense Emotions
  You will still experience nicotine withdrawal in many of the same ways that a smoker would. You may experience anxiety, irritability, and anger. You will need to be patient with yourself; ask others around you to be patient, too.
• Food Cravings
  People who are withdrawing from nicotine often experience food cravings. You may find yourself very hungry. Ward this off with crunchy fruits and vegetables.