It was the fall of 2011. My company was losing tens of thousands of dollars every month because of a bad contract, and my livelihood was going down the drain. I was behind on paying myself my salary because I had to pay hungry vendors instead. I also had a part-time job on the side just to keep some money coming in. After all, I had to somehow feed my then 2 year old daughter and keep her warm and sheltered.
Working two jobs isn't easy, but I don't think anyone does it voluntarily. I think we do it out of necessity. Add to that, all the stress I was under from the fear of losing everything I had worked for. I had a mortgage, two car payments, three lingering line of credits (all maxed out), and bills that wouldn't stop coming in. I had had enough.
I was also a smoker at the time. I smoked about 13 cigarettes a day, and believe me I enjoyed every one of them. I especially loved the first one in the morning. I always looked forward to that one. It was a special cigarette, and our time together was brief but intense. I lived for that cigarette. Oh, and don't even get me started on smoking and drinking whiskey. What a heavenly concoction! I loved smoking and I thought I would never quit.
And then one day, during that fall, my wife and I came to the conclusion that we had to quit or losing everything for sure. Together, we were spending $300 a month on cigarettes, which comes to a whopping $3,600 per year. Just imagine what you could do with that kind of money. On top of that, I couldn't play with my daughter without losing my breath. She has always been a very active girl and I couldn't keep up with her.
Basically, it was a quit or die situation. We knew this day was coming and we had quit many times before, but this time it was different. This time, we didn't have a choice. The choice was made for us, plain and simple. So we took everything we learned from our failed attempts, and with one giant push forward, we finally quit for good. She quit first and I quit five days later sometime in early November of 2011. I had been a smoker for 23 years.
It Is So Possible
My wife and I quit while under extraordinary circumstances that went from bad to worse. We were three months into our quit when we decided it was best to shut down my business and just deal with the aftermath. I had the wonderful priviledge of negotiating and settling with my creditors, which is a gut-wrenching experience that no one should have to go through.
However, there was no settling the business line of credit I had with the bank, and I'm still paying it down today. Banks are funny that way. They say they are your friend, and they are, as long as they don't lose any money.
Once the doors were closed, I had only my part-time job to pull us through. So I asked for full-time hours and they were good enough to give them to me. My wife used to work for me, so she became unemployed. Did I mention it gets worse? I think I did.
Anyway, we decided to sell the house which was worth some good coin, and we ended up buying a much cheaper house in another nearby town. We then lived off the proceeds of the sale for as long as we could, and believe me, savings dwindle fast.
My wife found a good job shortly after we moved and I still had my part-time job. I was actively seeking work for the sole purpose of making as much money as possible, and I finally found a job when we were down to our last thousand dollars or so in our savings account. It's so weird how it worked out that way.
In case you're wondering why I didn't declare bankruptcy, it's actually complicated and the bankruptcy would have affected other people. I explored the issue but it wasn't an option.
Since then, life hasn't been easy for us and we're barely making ends meet while slowly paying off our debts. However, over two years later, we are still proudly smoke-free and we haven't looked back. Not only that, but I feel like a million bucks every day. I practice yoga and meditation, and I'm very energetic. So the very thought of giving up what I experience now, for a cigarette, is both depressing and painful for me. I can't even fathom it.
I just want you to understand that, no matter what is happening in your life right now, you can be a non-smoker. To be honest, the only life-altering event I can think of where it would be extremely difficult to quit smoking, is the death of a loved one. It's tough, I know, and I don't want you to lose your sanity because you quit smoking when your father died. But once the grieving is over, there are no more excuses.
Believe me, if I can quit smoking under the most stressful of situations, you can too. And if Paris Hilton can become a celebrity, a miracle in itself, you can quit smoking.
Quit Or Die
To say "quit or die" might come across as extreme, perhaps. After all, there is no guarantee you'll die from smoking. But you do die a small death every time you light up.
Every time you light a cigarette, you're killing that part of you that begs you to stop. There is a voice inside of you that tries desperately to stop you from smoking. It's from a person who you used to know when you were little, a person so full of life and joy, who is now kept stuffed down underneath piles of emotions, and the cigarettes just keep the emotions from breaking loose.
When you light up, you silence the inner voice who wants to quit. You're saying, "Nuh Uhh, not this time. Tomorrow, I promise I'll quit." And when tomorrow comes and goes, that voice loses a little more hope, becomes a little smaller and more difficult to hear, until eventually it's dead and can't be heard anymore.
You're reading this right now because you listened to that voice. It's still alive, battered and bruised, but alive.
Of course, you can quit next week, next month or even next year, but will you still be able to hear your inner voice? It will only get harder, but not impossible, to quit the longer you wait. Waiting until the time is right is not going to make it any easier. Honestly, it won't. It's actually the opposite because the Soul Slayer gets bigger with every day you smoke, and the bigger he is, the harder it will be to beat him down.
The Three Essential Ingredients
There are three required ingredients for a successful quit. I will introduce them later, but for now, just know that you'll have to be armed with all three. This will not only give you a better shot at quitting, it will make your quit so much easier. This is especially true of ingredient number one. It is absolutely essential for your quit.
I didn't come up with the ingredients, although I did learn about them through each of my failed attempts at quitting. They are so obvious to me now, I wish I had known about them from the start.
I can also guarantee that if you fail to stay quit, you can look back at what went wrong and be able to trace it back to a lack of one of the ingredients. Anyone who has ever quit and stayed quit has, at the very least, had the first and third ingredients in his or her arsenal. The second ingredient isn't necessary, but it makes your life so much easier that I wonder why anyone would want to quit without it.
This isn't a magic formula or a 'quit the easy way' system of quitting. This isn't a system. It's just the only way to quit, plain and simple.
Your Only Obstacle
You should be able to answer this one on your own. When you quit smoking in the past, what is it that made you light another one up? Did someone put a gun to your head? Were you held at knife-point? Did they hold your cat ransom in order for you to start smoking again?
Who told you to light one up? Was it you? I wouldn't believe it if it was. Something must have happened in your life that made you start smoking again. After all, life can easily force us to get in the car, go to the store, buy a pack of cigarettes and smoke one. I simply love dripping sarcasm. It's my best form of poetry.
When you realize you are responsible for your own actions and the life-altering results of those actions, you'll have no choice but to blame yourself for continuing to smoke. Adults take full responsibility for their lives, no exceptions. So, are you an adult and are you ready to do something truly life-altering? Only continue reading if the answer is 'yes'.
What To Expect
I've already mentioned this is not a book with a magical formula. I won't introduce you to the ten easy steps to quitting. I'm not going to ask you to buy something from me or anyone else that you can't afford. In other words, if you're looking for the easy way to quit smoking, you won't find it here. Actually, you won't find it anywhere because it doesn't exist.
All that I will do is arm you with all the ammunition you'll need for a successful quit. You're about to go to war with yourself, but I can't fight the war for you, just like Barack Obama can't fight in a war overseas. He can only train his soldiers to fight and arm them with the right weapons. That's what I'm doing here. I'm just arming you. The rest is up to you.
And one more thing. Beyond this paragraph, there is going to be some serious ass-whooping. Your ass! I'm not going to sugar-coat anything to make you feel better unless I deem it necessary. I can't undertake this project without taking your life seriously. Smoking is a serious issue and I would be doing you a great disservice if I said, "Oh that's okay John. I'm sure you'll quit the next time you try." Nope! John is going to find my foot up his ass. So if you're looking for someone who is going to give you a pat on the back or play nice, you'll find that in at least a hundred other books on Amazon. If you want to quit smoking for good, read on.
What You'll Have To Do
I'm going to keep my end of the bargain and kick your butt into gear. You on the other hand will have to do all the hard work and actually stay off cigarettes. Deal?
Quitting is hard work, but I can make it easier for you if you just listen to what I'm saying. You'll also have to get off the couch and do some work but I'm fully confident you can handle it. I wouldn't ask you to do anything I didn't feel you could do. I have full confidence in your ability to quit smoking simply because I did it, and we're both human, and we're the same. I'm no better than you and vice-versa.
My strong recommendation is to read the book in the order it is written. I didn't write it this way to mess with you. I wrote it in a certain way and I want you to read it in that order.
I also don't believe in book fillers just to plump up the sucker. If I wrote it, it's important. Yes, that means everything. I have done my best to condense the information so you can get to your quit asap, but I also made sure I covered everything so you can get the full benefit. I want you to quit, plain and simple!
Finally, you can quit right now if you want to. I wouldn't stop you, but I'm sure you won't. So I recommend you quit after reading the chapter entitled, 'Set Your Quit Date.' Once you've finished that chapter and you've set your quit date, stick to it. In the meantime, keep reading the remaining chapters because they will give you the rest of the amunition you will need. Those chapters aren't essential to your quit, but believe me, they will make your life so much easier if you just take the time to read them.