Day 1 of Not Smoking Leads to Tears in the Studio

I set my quit date a few weeks back and today it arrived — Nov. 4.

I smoked my last cigarette last night and spent the night thrashing around before even going through withdrawals, just knowing the challenge that awaited me come morning. And a challenge it was. I generally start my day outside, sipping coffee, having the day's first smoke and staring at the glow of my phone, "reading the Internet" as Buzz would say.

I made sure there were no cigarettes in the house to wake up to, so I went about my morning, minus the smoke, but with it ever-present on my mind. Driving to work, by all the open gas stations was a challenge. Each of their glowing signs seemed to be a dancing cigarette in my mind, begging me, "C'mon, Stephanie, let's be honest, you know you can't do this, may as well cave now before you get to the office and the show starts and you don't have time to come and get us!"

But I didn't. Somehow. And I championed through the show, sucking on Red Vines, Jolly Ranchers and lollypops like someone tempting diabetes.

After the show I cleaned up the makeshift ashtray I had made out of a Mexican Coke outside the station, and got some cranberry juice after reading cranberry and orange juice help to flush nicotine from your bloodstream, making the cravings dwindle quicker.

That's when Buzz walked in the studio to find me crying and drinking cranberry juice and decided it was time for an impromptu Day 1 Smoke-Free confessional, in which I explain what I would do to 21-year-old me who picked up that first cigarette if I could go back in time:

As of right now, it's been 22 hours since I smoked my last cigarette, and according to my Smoke-Free app, I've not smoked 13.8 cigarettes I normally would and already saved $5.35. Baby Steps.

If you've been thinking about quitting smoking, I urge you to just do it. Don't buy that next pack. Set your quit date and do it this time. It's hard, but we can cry over cranberry juice together. Visit A Smoke-Free Paso del Norte initiative online to set your own quit date and get resources to help you quit.