Everyone reaches a crossroads. My turning-point was when a client asked where the ashtray was, and it was me. I had only smoked one cigarette on the way to the sales meeting, but my clothes held the scent of nicotine and the odor was likely permeating from my pores. That was the defining moment at which I made the commitment to become smoke-free.
I picked a quit date that commenced with a 4-day cruise to the Bahamas, because I knew that I would have to escape my environment if I was to have any chance at success. I had tried to quit three times in the past but pressure from my job and stress from family members always sent me driving to the convenience store. I remember thinking to myself, "If I could only go someplace where I couldn't get a cigarette, I could quit." But that place didn't exist.
I asked my friends if they would quit with me and they all said they would. But when it came time to pony-up the cruise deposits, they all shied-away. So I went by myself, wore the patch, and finally beat the addiction that had controlled my life for so long.
After successfully becoming smoke-free I began The Quit Smoking Cruise, found a Mental Health Counselor who specialized in addiction and recovery and founded the Quit Smoking Cigarettes Organization Inc. a non-profit 501(c)(3). This past new Year's Eve marked our sixteenth cruise. While I quit onboard a cruise ship, and many of our clients have, there were several who appeared topside smelling like cigarettes. Cruise ships are not smoke-free and you can purchase cigarettes in the lounges on board. While it is expensive to provide Quit Smoking Boot Camp, cruises end up costing our clients significantly more.
