New Year's day has come and gone. But does that mean it's too late to allow today to become the most liberating day of your life?

Aren't you just a tad curious about what it would be like to succeed and have withdrawal over and done forever, to never have to think about quitting again?

Do you allow yourself to dream about at last being successful in taking back your mind, mouth, priorities, time, hands, coins, opportunities, your smell, self esteem, breathing, honesty, health, endurance, thinking, smile, freedom, and life? But how?

The vast majority of ex-smokers stopped smoking cold turkey. It's true. But don't take my word for it. Instead, take your own poll of all former smokers you know who have successfully been off of all forms of nicotine for at least a year. You'll discover an elephant in the room.

Their common thread? They abruptly ended nicotine use, side-stepping the urge and intrigue to play weaning games. Key to success is in treating nicotine addiction as real drug addiction that is as permanent as alcoholism.

Frankly, the recovering alcoholic can't survive a sip any more than we can a puff, dip, vape or chew. Brain scan studies teach us that just one puff when attempting to stop smoking and up to 50% of brain a4b2-type dopamine pathway receptors become occupied by nicotine.

While a majority who attempt to "cheat" while quitting walk away feeling like they've gotten away with it, we cannot cheat nicotine compromised brain circuitry, pathways designed to make activating events nearly impossible to forget in the short term (the time needed for recovery). And it isn't long before they find their brain wanting, plotting to obtain or even begging for more.

The above "How to Quit" video is by my mentor Joel Spitzer, the Babe Ruth of smoking cessation. Although I can't prove it, I strongly suspect that Joel holds the world's record for the most days devoted to presenting live smoking cessation programs.

Want to meet thousands who've taken Joel's cold turkey lessons to heart? Spend a few minutes reading at Facebook's Turkeyville.

Still not convinced? Need additional motivation? Explore WhyQuit. It was built with the "not now," "not just yet" smoker in mind.

Think waiting another year before getting serious won't matter? Visit Freedom and read Neil's recovery diary.

The bottom line? Being home again is vastly more do-able and infinitely more wonderful than your wanting for that next fix will suggest.

Discover Smart Turkey Quitting

• WhyQuit.com - WhyQuit is the Internet's oldest forum devoted to the art, science and psychology of cold turkey quitting, the stop smoking method used by the vast majority of all successful long-term ex-smokers.
• Nicotine Addiction 101 - WhyQuit's basic guide to understanding nicotine dependency.
• Nicotine Cessation Topic Index - An alphabetical subject matter index to more than a thousand nicotine cessation articles, videos and support group discussions.
• Joel's Library - Joel Spitzer began presenting stop smoking clinics and seminars in 1976. WhyQuit's education director since 2000, Joel's Library is home to his life's work. It includes Joel's "Daily Quitting Lesson Guide," more than 100 original stop smoking articles, his free ebook "Never Take Another Puff," and to his ever growing collection of more than 400 stop smoking videos.
• "Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home" - Written by John R. Polito, a former 30-year heavy smoker and WhyQuit's 1999 founder, Freedom from Nicotine shares the science underlying nicotine dependency and successful abrupt nicotine cessation.
• Turkeyville - Imagine surrounding yourself with more than 10,000 cold turkey quitters. Turkeyville is a Facebook support group exclusively for cold turkey quitters.
• Freedom - Freedom was WhyQuit's original 1999 stop smoking support group. No longer accepting members, its 453,000 archived posts continue to share recovery insights.