Chapter 16

Celebrating Your Quit Day

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Getting last-minute supplies ready

Bullet Making it through the morning

Bullet Digging into diet

In earlier chapters, we describe and explain the major techniques for quitting smoking — trying nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), taking medication, changing thinking, dealing with triggers, getting social support, managing emotions, getting technical support, and challenging mental obstacles.

In this chapter, as well as the next two, we delve into the moment-to-moment challenges of quitting and how to get through the worst cravings using tiny targeted tips. By turning to major techniques, as well as tiny targeted tips, you can get through your quit plan, one day at a time.

Prepping for Your Quit Day

You’ve made a contract with yourself, and tomorrow is the day to implement your quit plan. The day or days before your quit day is the time to get some supplies, meals, and entertainment plans ready. Here are a few tiny targeted tips:

Break up and throw away all remaining cigarettes in your home. That means all of them. No time to cheat now.
Put away all ashtrays or throw them out.
Get rid of lighters and matches.
Prepare a smattering of easy, great menus for several days, and buy the ingredients.
Buy a few packs of gum or hard candy.
Buy or find things to fiddle with, like toothpicks, a stress ball, a fidget spinner, or rubber bands.
Make sure you have a good supply of NRT if it’s a part of your plan.
Reread your personal quit plan (see Chapter 15), and review the reasons you’re quitting; it will help you focus.

We have one more task for you before the Big Day hits. Doing this after you’ve completed your personal quit plan, but before you quit will give you a big boost of motivation right when you need it. Furthermore, the activity is kind of fun!

Make a set of cue cards (any format) for yourself as reminders — write something meaningful on each one, including the reasons for quitting you wrote on your quit plan and other messages such as the following:

I will save tons of money — about $10 today alone!
I can get through this.
My blood pressure and pulse will drop after 20 minutes without a smoke.
My oxygen levels will return to normal after just eight hours.
I’ve done even harder things in my life.
Watch out for unexpected urges.
Urges will decrease over time.
After 48 hours, my sense of smell and taste will improve.
No more yellow fingers and smoky, smelly clothes.
I love the idea of being an ex-smoker.
Keep active — don’t sit around moping.
Remember to check my app for more tips.
Wow, time to get an appointment to have my teeth whitened.
No more social ostracizing from others because of my smoking.
I will succeed.

You get the idea. Put these messages and more on notecards or sticky notes. Carry them with you. Pull one out whenever you have an urge. Pull one out even if you don’t have an urge. Repetition, repetition, repetition.

After your last cigarette, tell yourself that what you’re doing will be hard but worth it in the long run. Get a good night’s sleep.

Waking Up as an Ex-Smoker

Good morning! It’s a great day! Take a deep breath, and enjoy your smoke-free air. Appreciate that you’ll be breathing clean air from now on, for the rest of your life. This first day as an ex-smoker (that’s you) can be tough, but it’s only one day. You can do it!

Now, get moving! This is no morning to dawdle. If you have the time, take a walk or work out. If not, at least spend a few moments reviewing your day’s schedule. If you see any significant gaps in your schedule, find something to do during those periods.

Then throw yourself into a shower right away. Take time to enjoy the shower. Imagine the soap and steam are starting to clean out your lungs.

If morning is a time you normally smoke (and it probably is), change your routine. If you usually linger over a cup of coffee while you smoke, consider skipping the coffee at home and stopping at a coffee shop on the way to work. If you smoke while reading the news on your computer, don’t read it today — believe us, the news won’t go away or change because you’re not reading it.

Pull out those cue cards that you wrote last night. Read them. Now read them again. Take a few deep breaths and get on with your day. When you have an urge, pull the cue cards out and read them again. If you’re by yourself (or with someone on your support team), read them out loud.

THE POWER OF A PLAN

Jonathan is a 32-year-old I.T. manager for a local startup. He started smoking in grad school and has tried to quit almost every year since. It has become his usual New Year’s resolution. His friends are supportive but tease him about his revolving quit door. This time, he realizes that his previous attempts have failed to include nearly enough preparation and planning. This time he has prepared.

The alarm rings and Jonathan jumps out of bed. This is his official quit day, his first day as an ex-smoker. Normally, he heads straight to the coffee pot and lights his first cigarette. But not today. Instead, he shaves, takes a hot shower, and gets ready for work. He remembers to apply his nicotine patch; then he looks for a pack of sugarless gum to stash in his backpack. He grabs his cue cards and puts them in his shirt pocket for easy access.

Instead of having breakfast at home, Jonathan stops at a local coffee shop and orders a latte and a breakfast sandwich. He checks his email while eating his breakfast. He notices he’s doing pretty good so far. He’s proud of the fact that he has changed his routine and hasn’t had any severe cravings.

He doesn’t think he needs to, but he pulls out his cue cards anyway. He particularly focuses on the one that says, “Watch out for unexpected urges — they don’t mean you have to smoke.” He realizes that the day is young and he’s likely to have more trouble later. Right now, he feels confident.

Jonathan has prepared carefully for this day. He realizes that his past quit attempts have taught him a lot about quitting. They weren’t failures, just golden opportunities for learning. He has a complete personal quit plan and his chances of permanent success have increased.

Managing Food and Drink: You’re Not Giving Up Everything

First, don’t let yourself get hungry, even if you’re concerned about weight — you can deal with that issue later. Hunger is often reported to feel quite similar to cravings or urges for cigarettes. So, be sure to eat three meals today along with a couple of modest snacks in between.

Everyone says to have celery sticks and carrot sticks to chew on in place of smoking. Well, we don’t know about you, but after a couple of chews, it just doesn’t do much to satisfy a craving. Try crunchy veggies with a little dip (it helps) or a handful of popcorn here and there.

Equally useful is to drink lots of water — tap, bottled, carbonated, or lightly flavored. Treat yourself to a cold glass of ice water with a slice of lemon or lime. Every time you feel a craving coming on, drink some water. When drinking water, imagine that your body is cleansing itself of toxins.

As you know, nicotine is a stimulant even though it can relax you, too. Caffeine in coffee is also a stimulant. However, for some people, coffee is a powerful trigger for smoking. If that describes you, consider switching to tea or possibly a form of coffee you don’t normally drink. Iced coffee may have little or no association with smoking for you; if so, try it out.

Additional treats for dealing with cravings include fresh fruit (such as grapes, strawberries, and orange slices), nuts, and a few small whole-grain crackers. (See the “Opening a Pack of Pleasures Instead of a Pack of Smokes” section, later in this chapter, for some additional food alternatives for cravings that may surprise you.)

Keeping Busy at Work and Play

Today is a day to keep busy. If you’re working, try to avoid too much stress or conflict. Also avoid, if you can, making big decisions or taking on new, complicated projects. Admit it; you’re not going to be at your best.

Don’t underestimate the difficulty of giving up an addiction. Your thinking may not be as clear as usual. Cravings and urges take energy. Give yourself a break today, and just get through what needs to be done.

If you’ve told your colleagues what you’re doing (we usually think it’s a good idea to), talk with them about how it’s going. Most people are very understanding and want to help, particularly in the early stages of quitting. Reread your cue cards.

After work, it’s play time. Don’t bring any work home if you can possibly avoid it! We strongly encourage you to be active and busy tonight. Here are some possibilities:

Go out to a movie (where you obviously can’t smoke).
Stroll through a shopping mall.
Take a walk with a nonsmoking friend.
Play with your kids or dog.
If you’re a member of a gym, go for a workout. While you’re there, listen to your favorite music or podcast.
If you’re not a member of a gym, consider joining one.
Maybe it sounds silly, but try going roller skating or ice skating.
Catch a baseball game if it’s a smoke-free stadium.
Take your car to the car wash if you haven’t done so in preparation for quitting.
Do something nice for a neighbor or friend.

Be creative. Ask your support people for other ideas. The bottom line is that the more engaged you get with activity, the less room you’ll have for uncomfortable urges.

Avoiding Triggers for Now

The first smoke-free day is a day to plough through. No drama, don’t climb any mountains or ford any streams. And stay away from your smoking triggers as much as you can. So, if you normally take a smoke break at work, find some other way to fill that time. Call a friend or send a couple of emails to update your support team. Surf the web for quit tips or for some things to buy after you save your cigarette money.

Other smokers whether friends, coworkers, or family members can be extremely difficult to be around at first. Ask them not to smoke in front of you for at least the first week or two — longer if they’re agreeable. It’s better for you and for them (they’ll be smoking less). If you live with a smoker, you may have made an agreement that, for now, your partner or roommate will mostly smoke outside or in a specific room that you can avoid. The smell of smoke can trigger urges or cravings.

Commuting can also serve as tough triggers for many people. Cigarettes often go along for the ride as part of a long commute. Change up your mode of transportation for a while, even if it’s a hassle (and sometimes a bit more inconvenient or expensive). It will be well worth the cost in the long run if it helps you quit.

Maybe you’re a TV aficionado and you watch it from your favorite smoking chair. Tonight, go to a movie instead. See the “Keeping Busy at Work and Play” section for more ideas.

If you’re struggling with cravings today, call 800-QUIT NOW (800-784-8669) to talk with a quit-smoking counselor. You can even do that if it wasn’t part of your personal quit plan. Remember: Your plan can be continuously updated as needed.

Ultimately, you’ll have to encounter and deal with smoking triggers. You’ll get a sense of empowerment when you can pull that off. We discuss how in Chapter 10. And we give you more ideas in Chapter 18. But that’s for another day. Today, your goal boils down to not smoking and getting through the day.

Opening a Pack of Pleasures Instead of a Pack of Smokes

Now we’re going to go against all the rules. In our book, when you’re initiating your quit day, carrots and celery sticks just don’t do the trick. Your urges are strong — they want more than that!

Just as NRT can serve as a temporary bridge from smoking to a smoke-free life, guilty pleasures can do the same. So, we’re going to give you permission for a while to have your cake and eat it, too. That goes for ice cream, brownies, candy, chocolate, or spoonfuls of peanut butter right out of the jar. Seriously, you ask? Yes. If it gets you through for a little while, why not? But you protest, “I’ll gain weight!” You’re right. You probably will a bit. We help you out with that issue in Chapter 20.

If you’re diabetic, prediabetic, or morbidly obese, this advice is not for you. Think about other indulgent pleasures like buying something special for yourself.

What’s good for you in the short run isn’t so great in the long run. The core concern is that you quit smoking. Yes, being overweight is not healthy and can certainly impact your health. However, the risks of smoking are generally much greater.

Besides, we’re not talking about eating this junk forever. We’re talking about indulging this way for a week or two and possibly on occasion for the first month or so. That’s it. You won’t gain an insufferable amount of weight doing that unless you go over the top (four scoops are, duh, too much).

Plan to reward yourself at the end of your first smoke-free day. You did it. Congratulations! We’ll deal with your ice-cream addiction soon enough!

Going to Bed

You spent the day in survival mode. Your body has been used to a steady stream of nicotine via smoking. It’s a big shift even if you’re taking NRT. A few lucky people have no issues with sleeping the first night after quitting smoking. Other people feel excessively tired and fall asleep early — that’s totally okay.

Unfortunately, still others feel revved up from dealing with quitting and physiological rebound effects whether they’re using NRT or not. If you have trouble sleeping tonight, realize it’s normal and temporary. Tell yourself:

I’ve had other nights when I didn’t sleep, and I lived through all of them.
I may struggle tonight, but it’s likely to get better soon.
Quitting smoking is worth the aggravation of a couple nights of bad sleep.
Maybe I’ll read a trashy novel until I get sleepy.

If you can’t sleep, it’s a good idea to stay away from screen time. Read a real book (remember those?) or a magazine. Light emanating from screens messes up your brain’s circadian rhythm. See Chapter 17 for more help with sleep problems if they continue for more than two or three nights. Insomnia can derail your efforts if you don’t address it.

Medications that are used to help with cravings can sometimes lead to strange dreams or nightmares. See Chapter 9 for more information about medications and side effects.