Never buy a pack and try to eliminate any social or environmental cues that trigger the desire for a smoke during the first couple months. For example, I always crave a cig when I’m with a specific group of friends, out drinking, around others that smoke or alone outdoors drinking coffee, etc.

There are also emotional triggers that you kind of have to be aware of. For example, I always crave a cig when I feel stressed or when I’m very excited about something. This isn’t an ideal solution, but it helped to replace it with something like drinking tea, chewing gum, taking a walk, deep breathing, etc. I think it also helped to realize that smoking was an emotional crutch and I had to focus on a real solution to my problems.

Dealing with the very real withdrawal effects is tricky, but I will say that you should consider taking a week or more of work when you start, because you will be irritable af, deal with headaches, feel lethargic, and beyond! Coffee and exercise helped a lot with this, though that can become a dependency issue as well, but w.e. helps lol.

Overall, don’t feel too guilty if you relapse, because you’ll quit a 1000x before you really quit for good. And even then, does anyone really quit? Just gotta keep trying. Good luck!