Date: 9-13-13
I hereby agree with myself that, even if I am traveling, on vacation, under a million family obligations, or have any other “good” excuse not to, I will nevertheless meditate for exactly 8 minutes a day, every day, for the next 8 weeks.
[Escape Clause: If, for some reason, my day is so crazy that I honestly cannot find the time and miss a day, I will continue my meditation program immediately the next day. Note: This escape clause is valid for two uses only!]
(Signed) Mike Smith
I’m now working on Day 29 of not smoking. Almost one month complete! Woot! I did e-cigs for a couple of weeks. When those ran out, I switched to the patch and wore that for about 1.5 weeks. I’ve been nicotine-free for the last 5(?) days. Feeling pretty good, too!
I’ve also been eating Atomic Fireballs when I have bad cravings. Over the last week or so, I’ve noticed that I’m not really having any cravings, but I’m still eating the Fireballs. These things are great for fighting the craves and they have saved my life a number of times. But now that I’m eating them because I like them, well, that means it’s time to get rid of them. I have about 15 left. When I’m down to 5, I will save those in case I need them, but I won’t be buying any more. I need to purge myself of sugar now!
Along with taking the plunge on The Quit, I’ve decided that I need to start exercising again. I’ve been getting lazy these last few months since I haven’t been going to the CrossFit gym. As much as I like CF, my gym was far away and expensive. Since I’m no longer going, it’s time to step things up. I’ve decided to follow a more laid back approach and follow the Primal Blueprint Fitness plan. The quick and dirty of it is to move slowly, lift heavy, and occasionally sprint. So, for me, it breaks down thusly: 4 days of walking, 2 days of body weight exercises, and 1 day of sprints. That’s my week.
I started the walking aspect last week. One thing I love about living in the country, my walks are through some really nice areas with wonderful scenery. I’ve seen ducks, peacocks, cows, chickens, roosters, etc. I’ve also been taking some pics while I’m out and about. At any rate, I walked 3 days last week. The totals for each day were 2.7 miles, 3.1 miles, and 4.8 miles. I went out again today for 3 miles. Tomorrow I start the heavy lifting.
Combine that with eating a clean paleo diet, the weight should melt off of me. I hope. But, I’m not going to make any expectations. I’m just going to continue to do what I need to do and let the rest take care of itself. JERF! Just Eat Real Food!
In the last 3 weeks, I have not smoked 400 cigarettes.
Back in the day, it didn’t seem like much: 20 a day, but then I wasn’t keeping track of them past the daily intake. Pack a day? What’s that? That’s average for most people. No sweat. If I went over, like a night out on the town (read: closing a bar with drinking/smoking buddies) when I would push 2 packs in one day… yeah, I would mentally beat myself up: I shouldn’t have smoked THAT many in one day.
But, when one stops to think about the total over an extended period of time, it’s ridiculous! 400 in 20 days! A pack a day for 20 days doesn’t sound that bad, but 400 cigs in the same time frame? Hell, just the thought of smoking 400 cigarettes over ANY time frame… 400! Oy vey!
What hurts even more: if I had not fallen off the wagon in ’07, I would have saved over $15,000 by now. My Scirocco would have been running this whole time and I would have relished driving it every weekend, including to the last 6 Cincy’s and I would never have felt the shame of parking on the KIA side and getting that look from Daun (“Another year at the Scirocco get-together without the Scirocco?”). We would have hardwood floors (or a cheaper laminate alternative 
). Hell, we might even have a paved and heated driveway! (Who am I kidding? We probably would have pissed it away elsewhere, but the Scirocco could have been running!!!)
But still… 15 grand. And to add to that, here’s an even scarier number: 43,829. That’s number of cigarettes that I smoked since falling off the wagon (assuming pack/day for the last 6 years). ~44K cigs.
Incredible numbers and things to think about. And I would spend more time thinking about it if I wanted to live in the past on past mistakes. I don’t want to do that. Instead, I will think of the now and the future.
Now: three weeks in, I’m breathing easier than I have in about 4 years, but I know I’m not out of the woods. I still have cravings, albeit minor ones. I also know that since it took me 26+ years to walk this deep into the woods, it just might take 26+ years to find my way back to where I was. As they say on quitnet.com, 3 miles in is 3 miles out. Fortunately, I’ve already started to feel the health benefits and that’s enough to keep me going.
I made it farther than this in ’07, but this time I am not going to falter. I will walk the path. I will make it out of the woods. For…
I am done.
I am quit.
I am Mike and I am awesome.
I’ve set a date (Sunday night at midnight).
I’ve talked with some family (weekend with mom, brother, and sister inspired me).
I’ve reconnected with QuitNet.
While on the site today, I found something I want to post here, so I can come back to it from time to time.
I’ve been a smoker for over 20 years. About 6 years ago, I successfully quit for 3 months. I felt great. One day, I bummed a cig off a coworker after some happy hour fun. It’s a slippery slope and I slid right down it again. I’ve been at the bottom of the slope looking up for a long time. After spending the weekend with my family for my sister’s graduation (graduate school!), I decided I am ready to make the climb again. My brother flew out from Seattle and said he was hardly smoking anymore. That weekend, he smoked a lot. If I hadn’t been smoking, he wouldn’t have either. Big brother is a bad influence and I aim to change that relationship. Come tomorrow night, I’m going to try to kill that demon. It will be an epic battle, but I hope to be the one left standing.
This is just a test of a couple new recipes I have at If This, Then That. I really enjoy this site although I’m sure I’m not using it to its full potential. That being said, I had created a recipe that would send me a text message any time someone in my area made a “for sale” post concerning Concept2 rowing machines. After a year, I was notified of one in my price range and I bought it 2 hours after it was posted. IFTTT has saved me money!
While the rower I bought is an older model (Model B, last made in 1993), it’s in fine condition and I paid less than half of its true value. These rowers really hold up over the years if properly maintained. Another reason I wanted a Concept2, is their customer service and because they can be retrofitted with new parts. I ordered a few parts for mine (new handle, new foot boards, new seat rollers) and with that added cost, I’m still sitting lower than my rower’s true value. Fun times ahead!
Quoted from an article in the NYTimes:
Are we really that close to a world in which food functions as a nutrient delivery system
Um… isn’t that what food is anyway?
100 days, 14 hours, 58 minutes and 46 seconds smoke free.
2012 cigarettes not smoked.
$450.00 and 15 days, 8 hours of my life saved.
My quit date: 5/1/2007
I like the looks of that. (so much that I had to come back and bold those numbers!)