Nine Days and Counting
September 1st 2010 12:35
As someone whose bad habits were almost legendary, I can look back on those days with a smile. I started smoking and drinking at an early age (way too early, in fact). It took a health crisis to convince me to quit drinking. Beer and wine no longer tasted good when I got sick. That was the easiest bad habit to get rid of! It's been more than a year and I haven't even had the urge to drink a glass of wine with dinner. (To be honest, I did buy some rum flavoring to add to my eggnog last Christmas).
My husband has a nasty cough, every time he lights a cigarette. For several months, he's been threatening to quit and it hasn't happened yet. Personally, I never had a problem with smoking cigarettes and no ill effects from them, either. But his coughing finally got the better of me and issued a challenge to him. "By the time you come home in Sept., I'm gonna be a non-smoker and so are you!" I informed him. He readily agreed.
Well, folks, it's been nine days since I last smoked a cigarette. Funny, I thought giving up a habit that's 49 years old would be a little more difficult than it was. My niece gave me a pack of cigars, more as a joke than anything, and they're sitting on my desk... untouched. That's where they'll stay, too. When I quit drinking, a newly opened box of Merlot remained untouched for many months, awaiting a guest to offer a glass. Nobody wanted to drink it and I finally tossed it into the dumpster. My husband has yet to quit completely, though. He's trying to wean himself off, like he's always done. I hope and pray that it works now.
It feels like autumn in the air. Leaves are starting to fall and the November election is nearing. Besides saving a small fortune every month (cigarettes are very pricey!), this coming winter seems to hold a lot of hope for better health, happiness and prosperity. I was able (with God's help) to remove my two bad habits. With His help, we can remove the group of "bad habits" that are infesting Washington DC. Imagine how nice it will be to not have the burden of taxes and garbage hanging around our necks! Giving up the really bad habit of electing liberals (progressives) will be even better than saying goodbye to wine and cigarettes!
My husband has a nasty cough, every time he lights a cigarette. For several months, he's been threatening to quit and it hasn't happened yet. Personally, I never had a problem with smoking cigarettes and no ill effects from them, either. But his coughing finally got the better of me and issued a challenge to him. "By the time you come home in Sept., I'm gonna be a non-smoker and so are you!" I informed him. He readily agreed.
Well, folks, it's been nine days since I last smoked a cigarette. Funny, I thought giving up a habit that's 49 years old would be a little more difficult than it was. My niece gave me a pack of cigars, more as a joke than anything, and they're sitting on my desk... untouched. That's where they'll stay, too. When I quit drinking, a newly opened box of Merlot remained untouched for many months, awaiting a guest to offer a glass. Nobody wanted to drink it and I finally tossed it into the dumpster. My husband has yet to quit completely, though. He's trying to wean himself off, like he's always done. I hope and pray that it works now.
It feels like autumn in the air. Leaves are starting to fall and the November election is nearing. Besides saving a small fortune every month (cigarettes are very pricey!), this coming winter seems to hold a lot of hope for better health, happiness and prosperity. I was able (with God's help) to remove my two bad habits. With His help, we can remove the group of "bad habits" that are infesting Washington DC. Imagine how nice it will be to not have the burden of taxes and garbage hanging around our necks! Giving up the really bad habit of electing liberals (progressives) will be even better than saying goodbye to wine and cigarettes!
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Comment by Lester Caudill
Round Politics
I to weaned myself off, I started letting myself have one every half hour for a week. The next week it was one every hour. Each week after that it went a half hour longer until I got to the 4 hour mark that was the stopping point.
I chose Thanksgiving Day to be the day I stopped. Nov. is going to be a very special month for me. Hopefully republicans will retake control of Congress, and it is the anniversary of my quitting smoking.
I never really had a drinking habit, although my dad was a alcoholic, and my grandpa a moonshiner in his younger days. I did drink until my wife was pregnant with our first child.
I promised the Lord I would never drink in front of my children. You see being raised by a alcoholic was very abusive, I didn't want that for my kids.
S.L. I am glad you are doing better health wise, I have been very sick, and am going through a lot of test, seems everything from head to toe has broke down keep me in your prayers.
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by RickB_GA
Good luck in your quest to kick two of the toughest habits in the world. I smoked my last cigarette Halloween night, 1987. I had just purchased my third pack of the day, at $1.50 per pack out of the machine. As I sat at the bar, enjoying my fifth or sixth beer, I did some quick calculating and realized I was spending as much each month on cigarettes as I was in rent. It also suddenly dawned on me that I was at the point of needing a cigarette to go with my middle of the night beer. Add to that the coughing all day and wheezing all night … well, maybe it was time to give up the about thirty year habit and besides, look at the extra beer money I would have. When I left the bar that night I took two cigarettes from the package I had just purchased and went home. There I opened a fresh long neck Bud and very ceremoniously smoked my last two cigarettes. From time to time I still crave a cigarette; usually the one with my first cup of coffee in the morning or the one right after the evening meal.
July 5, 1989, I had just left the second of the two “duty” bar stops I generally made nightly. Actually I had been asked to leave the first one by the owner, who was also my boss, because he noticed I had 10 of those pesky long necked Buds on my tab and he felt that was enough. As I left the second stop of the night, a local police officer just happened to be going my way. I am sure he did not notice I dropped my keys several times trying to get into my vehicle … or exited the parking lot over the curb … well, you can pretty much guess the story from there. Anyway, two days later I realized that perhaps the alcohol in my life could be screwing up my life … so I went home and very ceremoniously drank my last two long necked Buds. I recently celebrated my 21st year of sobriety and have not missed the alcohol a bit.
I do hope the conservatives regain power in November. We just need to be sure we do not take the upcoming elections for granted and get out and vote. The media is making a big thing about the lead the Elephants have over the Jackasses. I worry about some staying home on election day because they think the Republicans have it made. Not casting a vote for your candidate is the same as casting a vote for his opponent. And, the Republicans will need to do some things really right or they will be out and the Chief Jackass will win the 2012 election again. I do not like where we are going under Obama but I am not happy about where we were under Bush either. We need new blood in Washington ... it is time for the beltway boys to go home for good.
Was Barney Frank really the role model for Jabba the Hut? Sixty something degrees every morning this week here in my part of Georgia.
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Sounds like you got rid of the bad habits in the nick of time, Rick.
Comment by RickB_GA
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by RickB_GA
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief