Sazerac

Thinking of you

Happy Bat Appreciation Day

sending this platter out to Whisp,

If you are astute or lucky to live long enough, you know, you have to do some work on yourself during this journey. I know many of us have thought we have a free ride, we can just do what we do and get by, no problem. Conquering my addiction reminded me that we can help ourselves to be better humans. We can be better to ourselves. We can have more compassion for others, especially addicts. We can examine why we are an addict and why we choose to put our addiction to sleep. We can discover how to change. This discovery, 'how to change' is probably the most important life lesson I have learned in quitting smoking. What have you discovered in yourself ?

Lots of folks thinking of you, nearing sunset on Monday. Hope you can imagine glorious beauty while you are under the knife and return to us to tell the story and good news.

The world is here, everywhere. Trust yourself. Trust your NOPE. Every damn day, trust your commitment to NOPE. Therein lies the power, the Super Power, an individuals commitment to their own freedom.

If someone has quit, they have stopped further damage. At the very least, they won't be requiring having someone help them get out of their hospital bed, give up their oxygen and assist them to drag their IV to the smoking section. Or, smoke from a hole in their throat. Or, lay in bed having a nic fit.

Our eyes need watering to help them grow. To confront nicotine when drinking is no easy chore, I had to stay away from it for a while until I really trusted myself and my quit. I am so glad you didn't smoke and proud of you and your friends for taking this seriously.

I am in total support of ANY plan that helps. If a jar of tobacco juice helps you, I say, go for it. We're dealing with addiction and it is serious business. There is no wrong way to quit. My rubber band experiment really made me think. Because I was committed to surviving the crave or the trigger (this is a key component) I didn't want to punish myself anymore, looking at my ugly wrist that day was so visceral. Rewarding yourself is FUN and rewards needn't cost a dime I know we may think of rewarding ourselves at one week, two week...one year etc. but, here I am talking about rewarding yourself for an especially twitchy crave. A short wild dance gets your endorphins flowing, smiling does too. Orgasm can't be beat for a reward and reminds you to appreciate your new, non smoking circulatory system. I like rewards.

You are doing great, sure, there may be bumps ahead but, hold fast to your resolve. It gets easier, believe all of us, it gets easier.

Congratulations on your first week of freedom, Rosewothorne ! And thank you for your blog, It's Time For A Journey Have a splendid celebration, reward yourself. You don't smoke anymore !

Well, Opah, you are right in a way, 'there is no freedom from this'. We will always be nicotine addicts. I grieved about this but, not for long, grieving didn't free me. Accepting that I can put my addiction to rest DID free me. I saw the choice. Part of reclaiming the addict's brain is replacing smoking with chosen rewards. Nicotine gangstered our brain's reward receptors and we need to re-wire. Maybe, during your coffee...a time when nicotine hijacked your 'pleasure' points, you can purposefully reward yourself with something else, make yourself smile. You may have read this, it was a visible thread for a while, I think it is very important. The Significance of Rewards p.s. I remember reading something about wearing a rubber band on your wrist and snapping it every crave or smokey thought. I tried this for a day and had a mightily bruised wrist and then I asked, why am I punishing myself for a smokey thought ? I am beating the damn crave, why am I linking that to pain? I needed to switch up the association and get busy replacing smokey thoughts with pleasant thoughts with a sense of pleasure.

Congratulations to you, facing down a huge trigger. You don't smoke anymore. I found it helpful to accentuate a diverting thought, 'Free Your Head', I would think and say/scream/yelp out loud and then aggressively replace smokey thoughts with thoughts unrelated to smoking/not smoking, look at that light on that leaf...what bird is that...

Pan !

well, that is good that red foods are ok. don't expect much from the pancakes...but, you won't starve. I make a savory oatmeal and pan fry the oak 'cakes'. Where's the Scottish lass...she knows her way around oatmeal ! You hoo, Wee fluffy me, you hooooo Cold soups. Gazpacho. Cold cucumber soup, make it creamy with coconut milk, the unsweetened in a can (unless you have fresh ?) Did I see forbidden chick peas so, no hummus ? Blaspheme ! how about Baba Ganesh ? 1 eggplant minced garlic (a few toes or more to taste) 1 lemon, juiced 2 Tbsp Tahini (I've done w/out tahini) sea salt olive oil brush peeled, sliced eggplant with oil, roast 5-10 minutes under broiler, turning once or twice, until the eggplant is softened and golden brown. add to a food processor with lemon juice, garlic, tahini, a pinch of salt and mix until creamy. Will keep covered in the fridge for several days. Lately, I haven't been roasting eggplant, I peel it and pack it in crockpot with a few hot peppers, an onion, a splash of olive oil. This is much easier and if you roast a head or two of garlic you still get the 'roasted' flavour.

Like nosmojo (the good girl), I am lucky. The new americans who own my corner shop are often worried about some of their family still in Egypt. I worry too because they are super kind and have a graciousness not often seen or heard anymore, really old world. 'We appreciate you', they will say after my transaction. I worried that my quitting would be a dent in their profits but, they faffed it off and said they are really proud of me and would never, ever sell me another cigarette. Maybe the man in Wispers' store knew too well about addiction, maybe he doesn't know anyone who has successfully quit, maybe he witnessed a relative die from a smoke related illness unable to quit, maybe he has quit trying to quit, maybe his reaction was connected to his deep despair. You never know why people say things. It is usually nothing to do with you. Too often, we are in our own little universes. I've said exactly the wrong thing at times and don't I know it. Maybe he is just an idiot. Remember Hanlon's Razor, 'Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.' At any rate, what people say about our quits shouldn't matter one whit. Sure, it's nice to get accolades but, all that matters is our individual commitment to living nicotine free. Others may not understand but, we do. We're addicts and we've put our addiction to sleep.

We'll be cheering for you on Tuesday ! Please take special care of yourself, you nicotine free lucky lady.

Congratulations, Kev. rebooting...precisely right ! Be assured that things will get clearer and easier but, stay ever vigilant and don't be surprised of feel like the lone ranger if something out of the blue triggers a crave again. These are the last craves you are ever going to feel so deeply and you are so much more powerful than a crave.

Refreshingly cool for maybe the last 'cold' front of the year here. Fidelity on the stereo will be excellent today with such low humidity.

I hadn't seen this absolute gem before from T-Bone Walker

Thank you for the eye candy, Rose, and congratulations to you and your husband. I am so glad you are taking the time to document your quit, it is very helpful, thanks.

this blog today, (scroll down to the comment section) on weather underground has current posts and good info, there is a lot going on in CONUS and Canada today. I have a few more hours of the storm, it's been ok here (NOLA), plenty of rain, and a few scary moments of rapid pressure drop, weird light, confused sky which blew on through. Good luck tonight/tomorrow y'all. When hurricane season kicks in, I am glued to the blog on WU and I love Levi Cowan and his Tropical Tidbits site. He will do a daily video with a calm, competent voice when things start to get interesting, tropically speaking. I checked out your local channel, johnny...it is really GOOD. I wish ours was as informative.

Hey johnny5, any cool sites that I should know about ? Is this disturbance likely to be in your neighborhood ? It's starting so warm and dropping 20 degrees, always a dangerous combination.