At 10:20 PM tonight, 7 years ago, I put out my last cigarette. I claim tomorrow as my official quit day, though, because it was the first full day of not smoking.

Am I completely free of the addiction? No. In fact, the past couple of months I've often thought how great a pack of Marlboro Lights and a bottle of Jim Beam would be; to the point that a few times much of my resistance was provided by the lack of money and/or the liquor store being closed. But, as always, those urges pass.

Recognizing them as the mental constructs of an addicted brain helps me to move through them. We all develop our own unique coping mechanisms, even though there are some that tend to generally work better for the masses than others.

I've said it thousands of times and I'll say it thousands more. Addiction recovery is a mind game and your only opponent is yourself. At any point in a recovery it is possible for the addicted mind to overcome the rational mind and that's okay. Slips happen. What is important is how the person responds once one occurs.

I don't say that to empower people's slipping, but to let those who honestly do know that it is not the failure crisis that many attach to it. It's a natural part of recovery. If you find yourself in a state of serial slipping, then it's time for you to take a close, hard look at why you want to quit and the methods you are using.

Successful recovery takes a deep and abiding desire to not do whatever the addiction is. Superficial want isn't enough. That said, there are many who have entered a recovery for superficial reasons, just to discover the benefits of being free of their addiction, and their superficial desire sank down into the place where success resides.

So whatever it takes. Go for it.