Closing thought of the day

[jillar]

Another great update yoda, thanks for sharing.

[Doreensfree]

So tonight I celebrate 313 days of no smoking.  313 days of NOPE.  313 days closer to freedom and most of all, one prayer that was answered.  Thank you God for a wonderful day and beautiful gift.

 

Great positive post Yoda...

Before you know it ...you will be playing golf ,and smoking won't even cross your mind ...

I laughed at the point you now think of what you were putting your cigarette in ...when you laid it down .

Smokers don't care about that at all...it's just more crap...than what's already crap...

 

 

[Gus]

7 hours ago, intoxicated yoda said:

  So tonight I celebrate 313 days of no smoking.  313 days of NOPE.  313 days closer to freedom and most of all, one prayer that was answered.  Thank you God for a wonderful day and beautiful gift.  

Beautiful. 

[intoxicated yoda]

11 month update.  I had to think about this for a while since not a lot has changed from last month.  I guess I'll just start with the smoking, or lack thereof and what it's like dealing with that now.  Honestly, I still think about smoking everyday but I'm not obsessing over it.  It takes less and less effort to distract myself from the thoughts as I wouldn't even classify it as craves anymore.

 

I've been staying pretty strict on the diet.  Probably about 90 days on it since my last divergence.  Still have problems with my shoulder so I can't do much upper body work out.  The hip seems to be not as bad as it was although I still have some minor nagging issues with it.  My eyesight is actually getting better, I did not see that one coming (see what i did there).  But seriously, i can read some of the smaller print that 3 months ago I would just be like screw it, if that warning on this pill bottle was that important they would have it printed in bigger letters.  

 

Lack of sleep had been killing me over the last month due to cramps.  Sometimes they would start at around midnight and last til 4 or 5 am or they would start at  3 or 4 am and totally screw my sleep up.  I took everything you could think of to prevent the cramps and I think I may have found a solution.  Started taking free form taurine 6 days ago.  No cramps for the last 2 days...at all.  I take anywhere from 4 to 8 grams of it per day.  In fact today was the first day in long time I made it through an entire day without nodding off or getting the watery eyes from being sleepy.  go me.  If you have cramping issues give it a try.  it's not very expensive.

 

Been 2 months drinking only water.  no coffee, tea or anything else liquid.  quitting coffee is about as intense as quitting cigarettes but it doesn't last as long.  Things I've seen about say you really don't start feeling the benefits quitting for about a year so I'll wait it out and see.  I have tried to drink a beer here and there on the golf course but it really makes me feel like shit almost immediately so I'm pretty much done with that.  

 

I don't know where I'm at on my quest to lose my quit weight since my scale broke.  Maybe I'll get another one but for now I'm just gonna do what I'm been doing a let the weight take care of itself.

 

Well, that's about it.  I'm still in the process of crushing all my addictions.  Will be interesting to see what life is like not needing some kind of poison to get through the day.  take care everyone and stay strong.  remember...the steeper the climb the better the view when you get to the top.

[Doreensfree]

Great update Yoda ...

You sound just where your body supposed to be ....

It's still early days and the benefits keep on coming ....

I will make sure the Lido Deck has plenty of water ,just for you ....

And plenty of wine for me and a few other ladies here lol....

[intoxicated yoda]

1 year update.  the big finale.  the exciting news.  y'all ready for this???  There is literally nothing to update.  I have said it all before.  Another day has come and gone without smoking just like the 365 days before this one.  Did I think about smoking?  Probably.  Do I still want one?  on some level probably yeah.  But not smoking is the norm now.  was it worth the hell to get to this point?  absolutely.  not being controlled by a chemical cocktail inside a smoldering piece of paper is relieving.  it's almost like waking up from a bad dream.  The smoking has lost control of me.  The quitting is losing control and just being an average person who doesn't smoke is right in front of me.  it doesn't mean I'm letting my guard down though.  It just means I'm treating smoking like any other drug I don't do.  I don't think about not doing heroine all day long because I don't use it.  Same with cigarettes.  That's it.  

 

All you 2021 quitters that have hit the lido deck before me, I salute you.

All those that haven't made it yet, stay with us and your time will come.

All those that fell off, get back on.  Once you realize that you can free your mind from the addiction and that you can direct your thoughts, your ass has no choice but to follow.  It will rebel at first but it has to toe the line the mind draws.  

And for all those long time quitters who still come here to help slobs like me, you have my utmost respect and admiration.  

 

Good night quit train.  Pleasant smoke free dreams.

[Doreensfree]

I love this !!!!

Yep !!!....The Magic has happened .

Congratulations Yoda.....Never look back....it's all full steam ahead now ....

Stay around and the help the poor Newbie Quitters .....who need your help ...

 

[Boo]

On 8/26/2022 at 11:37 PM, intoxicated yoda said:

1 year update.  the big finale.  the exciting news.  y'all ready for this???  There is literally nothing to update.  I have said it all before.  Another day has come and gone without smoking just like the 365 days before this one.  Did I think about smoking?  Probably.  Do I still want one?  on some level probably yeah.  But not smoking is the norm now. 

 

Such an important point for those starting out in their quit.  The triggers and craving are real, they can be a pain in the ass.  However, you'll get through it.  There may be times when you have to clench your teeth and white-knuckle it, but you'll get through it.

 

With time and repetition, not smoking becomes easier and easier.  Eventually, smoking becomes nothing more than an afterthought.

 

The challenge is temporary.  The freedom is permanent.

[intoxicated yoda]

It took twice as long to take it off as it did to put it on but I finally lost all my quit weight.  Tipped the scale at 165.1 this morning.  Down from the whopping 202.5 I topped out at in December after quitting in August.  The battle of the bulge isn't done yet though.  I've been seeing a physical therapist to try and fix my shoulder and hip and it's time to start putting on some muscle.  Let's see where I can get to in another 8 months.  That will be the end of spring next year.  Not saying I'll be able to sport a speedo but at least I should be able to lay on a beach without Greenpeace spraying me with a hose and trying to push me in the water.

[Doreensfree]

Well done Yoda.....

Your still travelling your journey.....you have come a long way ..

[Gus]

This is awesome Yoda! YOU are awesome! I just know that you will succeed!

[intoxicated yoda]

Thanks @Gus you're pretty awesome urself!!

[Boo]

15 hours ago, intoxicated yoda said:

Not saying I'll be able to sport a speedo 

 

Good news: Speedo makes some sensible board shorts.  I have a couple of pairs, solid swim trunks.  You can rock the Speedos without cramming your gentleman's business into one of those banana hammocks.

 

Congratulations on the weight loss.

[Doreensfree]

27 minutes ago, Boo said:

 

Good news: Speedo makes some sensible board shorts.  I have a couple of pairs, solid swim trunks.  You can rock the Speedos without cramming your gentleman's business into one of those banana hammocks.

 

Congratulations on the weight loss.

This Train is full of useful information...

[intoxicated yoda]

Played golf again this weekend and ended up riding with a guy that smokes.  And he doesn't just smoke...he smokes what used to be my brand and I did take a long, lustful look at his pack of cigs more than once but the really cool thing is that after I got home I realized that I didn't remember even smelling his smoke.  All I really remember from that day is that I shot an 85 and had at least 3 drives off the tee in the 260 to 270 yd range...which ain't bad for an out of shape troll that's pushing 60 with an f'ed up shoulder and a bad hip.  I don't know if I'll ever get back to being a smoke virgin but that won't stop me from trying.  What I really crave is coffee and chocolate but I know if I give in to those the cigarette cravings will hit me like a tsunami.  For now I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and maybe I'll treat myself to a Dunkin Donuts coffee for Christmas...or not.

[intoxicated yoda]

it's been a minute since i've dropped anything here on my quit thread.  maybe that's a good thing, i don't know.  some personal family issues arose recently that got me to thinking, what do we really know vs. what we are told and blindly accept as truth.  for instance, i'm quite sure that there are 7 and a half billion people in the world.  How do I know that?  did i count them all or did some person that i don't personally know tell me that?  Or worse, was it some faceless entity that claims some kind of authority over everybody to tell us how many of us there are?  The fact is I don't know how many people are in this world.  Hell I don't even know how many houses are on the street I live on much less the number of people in the world.  sometimes we have a willingness to put faith in institutions that may or may not have our best interests in mind.  questioning ones world view can be a healthy thing to do especially since we are programmed (and highly effectively I might add) through electronic media.  that intentional programming started very shortly after the mass adoption of the radio so if you believe you aren't being programmed you might want to think again.  In fact, the more fervently you believe you haven't been programmed the more effectively you have been.  Even with smoking Hollywood programmed the men to believe that smoking made them cool and desirable and women to believe smoking made them sexy and desirable and the most sinister part is that we didn't even know it until we realized we were hooked.  Now you want to look me in the eye and tell me with a straight face that those same people would stop at cigarettes?  You think for a second they would stop at selling a product through sexual innuendo when fear is ten times more effective at manipulating the herd?  At any rate, I started doing a little experiment were I would write down something I am 100% sure of and then I would write down how I came to know that particular fact and found out that most of the stuff I "know" I don't even know how I came to know it.  Most of it I saw on tv or some video on line but my shields were down and it just got rubber stamped by my psyche as true, and that is just a best guess.  

 

Maybe i'll start a thread in Games called "Debunk Yourself" where you take a commonly held fact and then state very truthfully how you came to know said fact.  Then the rest of us can pile on and tell you what an idiot you are.  sounds like good times.  But if I don't start the thread you all can pile on here and tell me I'm an idiot.  you wouldn't be wrong and my feelings won't be hurt cause I already know the truth.  I am an idiot.  it's tough not to be though.  Think about it, if the world was hollow who would know/ only those who touched the sky/ the rest of us in invisible chains/ aren't even allowed to try.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by intoxicated yoda

[Gus]

‘Question everything.’ ‘Don’t just teach someone to read, teach them to question what they read.’ <these days, you can also insert hear and even see> I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am not a robot. The idiot is the one that doesn’t question. 

[overcome]

Well said both of you, I agree. 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by overcome

[intoxicated yoda]

4 hours ago, Gus said:

‘Question everything.’ ‘Don’t just teach someone to read, teach them to question what they read.’ <these days, you can also insert hear and even see> I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am not a robot. The idiot is the one that doesn’t question. 

not only question what you read, but who wrote it and why.  what was their agenda for writing what they wrote?  there are no shallow rabbit holes.

[Doreensfree]

Wow !!!!....Yoda ....

Great post ...Food for thought.

[intoxicated yoda]

7 hours ago, Doreensfree said:

Wow !!!!....Yoda ....

Great post ...Food for thought.

that was me completely sober...imagine where my mind would go if I dropped a few grams of 'shrooms.

[jillar]

On 11/22/2022 at 5:46 PM, intoxicated yoda said:

.  I am an idiot. 

 

Are you 100% sure of this? And if so, how did you come to know said fact? 

[Doreensfree]

Do we have to have another poll on this  ??

[intoxicated yoda]

12 hours ago, jillar said:

 

Are you 100% sure of this? And if so, how did you come to know said fact? 

because ignorance is bliss and I'm way to happy.  

[darcy]

i do so enjoy the banter, fodder for thought and general mayhem of the people on this train.