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Great blog, Sazerac. You know, I wonder... Many people have said that one of the most important "benefits" of smoking is that it allowed them some distance from their emotions. Whenever they felt some strong emotion, the few minutes required to step outside, find, light and savor a cigarette gave them time to process those emotions and choose how to react. The rituals of smoking are also calming. Many people say that they feel emotions more strongly after quitting than before. Negative emotions, of course, but also positive emotions. Sort of like--when they feel bad they feel very, very bad. But when they feel good they feel GREAT!! For anyone involved in a creative pursuit where you have to reach down inside yourself and express your emotions for the world to see, I suspect that quitting smoking (or any other type of drug) will really throw a monkey wrench into your work for a while. You probably will have to push your way through it, force yourself to work when you are not feeling "comfortable" or "normal". Eventually you will get used to your new normal and you will be able to work easily again. I bet that your work product will be a little different than it was when you were smoking, and maybe that will be a good thing.

It's a great gift you give yourself.

I like I like. when I hit the like button this pops up "an error occurred (in orange) there was a problem storing your reputation vote" my reputation is shot to hell anyway, tee hee hee. But, back to the good biz at hand....so inspired watching your journey, Sammie. Very, very cool.

Thinking of you and your family Chrys. Shout up when you need to, we will be here for you. x

It's tough and I "get it". I took a prop (for me a crystal but you could use anything that feels right to you) to kinda balance me out - maybe try that? It helped to read it only takes 28 days of doing something to make it your new thing so it can be fixed quite quickly. x

Brilliant news Sam! x

Way to go, Sammie! One day at a time, one hour at a time If you have to. But every single day now it will start to get better and better. I promise!

I'm really glad you joined us - us October quitters have got to stick together! I've got your back!

You are free, maybe you will see what your new better normal is on canvas. I bet you will like getting to know it.