Read this, have your last cigarette, and be a non-smoker forever.

The term “kicking the habit” makes it seem like something simple. But anyone who’s been successful knows that this is probably one of the most difficult challenges.

Smoking will pretty much guarantee death or a smoking-related illness. There is a long list of cancers (kidney, lung, stomach, and mouth just to name four of them), there’s heart disease, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and there are strokes.

If you are too smart to run face first into a speeding train, you are too smart to be a smoker.

“I’m only a light or social smoker.”

Sound familiar? Being a part time smoker still someone a smoker and they’re still poisoning themselves. Nicotine is an addictive substance. If you smoke, you are addicted. Why, with all of the information readily available about the harmful effects, would someone otherwise continue to smoke?

You may think you have time, but you don’t. You have to try to quit right now. And here’s why: you can still escape mostly unscathed, maybe. The effects of smoking can be reduced in leaps and bounds the longer you remain a quitter.

Here’s a list of reasons to stop smoking now.

Money: It is possible to pay for a family vacation with the money saved. This is not an exaggeration—I’ve done it! Think about any life experience you financially can’t afford to have and use that as motivation.

Family: Someone in your family, be it your child, sibling, or parent may have to watch you die from a painful and horrible disease. Do you want that for them? And don’t forget the influence you have—you’re telling your children it’s alright to smoke.

Smell: I didn’t realize how smelly a person can be after a cigarette until I quit. It’s repulsive. I don’t mean to hurt feelings here, but gum just doesn’t cut it. The smell of someone after they’ve smoked wafts through the room.

Breath: How can you breathe when your lungs are struggling so hard to evacuate the poisons? I didn’t think I had a “smoker’s cough” when I smoked. I was wrong. When I hear smokers coughing and clearing their throats, it always occurs to me—I don’t do that anymore! I take a deep breath and I feel clean and healthy.

Energy: Smoking makes us ridiculously tired. And no wonder! Lower lung capacity means less oxygen, and therefore, less energy. Smoking kills your quality of life while you wait for one of the more fatal effects—but it’s so subtle and gradual that you don’t really notice.

Appearance: Smoking makes a person look ill. They are grey and yellow tinged, wrinkly, and tired looking. Their skin looks terrible. Aside from the vanity aspect, this surely affects self-esteem.

If this isn’t enough for you to consider quitting, here are some reputable sources for hard and fast statistics:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Health Canada

Surgeon General

World Health Organization

Quit when you’re ready but please get yourself ready. No one really wants to smoke. They just don’t want to go through the pain and aggravation of withdrawal.

If you want to quit, you just have to do it. It’s as simple as that.

It’s like anything painful—you get through it. Would you re-scrape your knee to stave off the itch of healing skin? No! Cravings are awful. Habits are difficult to break.

You’re going to want to yell, cry, and throw things. Do it. Find a support system or a quitting partner. Avoid alcohol, because you will lose your inhibitions and might make a mistake you regret. Be a hermit for a while.

Eventually, like a healing wound, the pain of it goes away. Don’t fool yourself. This isn’t like ripping off a bandage. Quitting can be a slow torture, but it will end.

Three things I will recommend to anyone who has had enough of being a smoker:

1. Cold turkey. Nothing works better than just quitting. Don’t mess around with anything else.

2. Read this book. Order it now and read it. Smoke while reading it if you have to, but read it—right to the very end. After numerous attempts to quit over many years, this made me quit. This book is magic.

3. Here is a timeline of what happens to your body after you’ve quit. Bookmark it. Read it each time you have a craving and read it now so you can understand why it’s so imperative you quit immediately.

Wouldn’t it be nice if ex-smokers got rewards like other addicts do when they’ve reached a milestone? It’s worth acknowledgement.