Now that your quit day is here, let's talk about slips and relapses. A slip is when you smoke one or two times after your quit date, but you still want to quit. A relapse is when you go back to smoking the way you did before, and give up your attempt to quit.

	Fact: Many smokers try to quit several times before succeeding.

If you slip — and many ex-smokers do — it's natural to feel bad. The problem is that feeling bad can lead to the self-defeating conclusion that your plan isn't working. That's simply not true. A slip is a slip, nothing more, unless you let it become a relapse.

After a slip:

• Be positive. Forgive yourself. Get rid of all your cigarettes.
• Slips are learning opportunities — think about your triggers and how to change your behavior. More on understanding triggers.
• Remember, one cigarette does not make you a smoker. You haven't failed. You just need to adjust and stay with it. You can do it!

After a relapse:

• Don't panic — set a new quit date when you're ready to try again, and make it soon.
• Try to figure out why you started smoking again and how to avoid the same situation.
• Think how successful you were. Review your quit plan and prepare to move on.
• If you used a stop-smoking medicine, but did not take advantage of a customized plan such as Committed Quitters®, you should strongly consider trying it in your next quit. Learn more about Committed Quitters now.