Boo

The thing I hated most about the early days of my quit was obsessing over cigarettes and smoking. Now I'm thankful for those obsessive thoughts. They were a pain in the ass but also forced me to realize how my addiction had come to be front-and-center in my life.. The truth will set you free. It might smack you on the side of the head a few times, but will eventually set you free.

I stumbled across Sean Rowe totally by chance. First video I watched of his was "I'll Follow Your Trail." It's a great song and I heard it for the first time only a few weeks before my daughter was born. Sometimes a song really hits home...not gonna lie, I get a bit emotional listening to this one.

Maddie's fascination with the water continues. We rarely have the television on anymore and when we do, Maddie pays little to no attention to what is on the screen. Last night was different. We were watching some of the U.S. Olympic diving trials. When the girls would jump off the platform, Maddie would point and say "dat". When the girls landed their dive, Maddie let out an "ooh". And when the people in attendance would clap for the divers, Maddie clapped right along with them. Might be getting ahead of myself here, but...keep your eyes open for a future Team USA diving star. In other Maddie related news: the little gal is approaching toddler status fast. She's getting more and more comfortable letting go while cruising and taking a few choppy steps with no assistance. This is good news. It means that me and Sugar Britches are going to need the reflexes of a ninja, but good news nonetheless.

Yes. Some days I am hitting on all cylinders. Other days, it's a grind just to get to the end of a workout. There's a lot to be said for just punching the clock and doing the work on those days when you're not really feeling it. Trail running can definitely set your legs on fire. However, I found that my legs tired more quickly on the trails but felt better the next day as opposed to running on the road or the treadmill. My joints ached more and I felt more of a kind of lingering fatigue following road runs. I figure it was the variation found on the trails as opposed to the repetitiveness of hitting the road. Like with most things in life, there are trade-offs. As for my regimen, I'm still focusing on conditioning and bodyweight exercises; building most of my workouts around a boxing routine. This morning, me and the family got out bright and early to beat the heat. Did a short hike at Deep Creek and I got to do a bit of sport climbing for the first time in over a year. Being somewhat out of form, I stuck to lower graded climbs. Warmed up on a 5.8. Did a couple of 5.9s and completed one 5.10b. It felt good to get back on some rock. Had a nice little post-workout cooldown...splashing around in a creek with my daughter and dog. It was a good day.

Good job IQ.

If you're looking at buying any building supplies, buckle up buddy! Lumber and steel prices are skyrocketing. Those who are willing and able to pay the price will likely have to wait as materials are in short supply. The supply chain is FUBAR right now. Don't shoot the messenger. I'm just giving you a heads up.

I've always like Hunter S. Thompson's quote about music as fuel. "Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel. I have always needed fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty miles more if you have the right music very loud on the radio.

Folks can really get themselves wound up by trying to attach meaning and order to random events. This morning at work things got a bit wonky. One of those Murphy's Law kind of days: "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." I'll spare you the details. One of the guys at work in particular is wound a bit tight. He's a good man, but he tries to insist on perfect order in a chaotic world. As things were going sideways fast this morning, he was alternating between states of nihilistic despair and homicidal rage. There was talk of the universe lining up against him, forces of nature conspiring to ruin his day, and various people acting with nefarious intent. To hear him tell it, there was a lot of planning that went into making his day a bad one. On the other hand, I don't really have a theory for why things went the way they did this morning and I'm not interested in trying to establish intent for anyone involved. I just figured we caught some bad luck on a Friday morning; things play out like that sometimes. I'm not even sure where this post is going now. I suppose what I'm trying to say is: when things don't go according to plan, sometimes it's best to ask "what now?" rather than "why me?"

Good job Katgirl.

The basic truths can never be overstated. Quitting smoking is simple, but we don't figure that out until we stop complicating things.

Good job Nana. Congratulations.

Happy Birthday Nancy. Celebrate with a sing-a-long (I'm assuming you know the words to this one).

There's not one rider on this train that hasn't dealt with the quitter's paradox: I want a cigarette but I don't want to be a smoker. Most of us threw away quits before we got it right. Every quitter understands how associations are made between routine functions and smoking a cigarette. You are amongst friends here Steven. Grab a seat and take the ride.

I'm a simple man with simple needs. There will likely never come a time when I don't find this funny...

Good work Linda. I know it hasn't been easy, but you've hung in and stayed true to your commitment.

I'm going to give you a piece of advice I have given others before you. You can take it or leave it. Don't worry so much about thoughts of smoking. I've followed this thread since you started it and have seen a recurring theme: you seemed to have moments, well before your relapse, where you felt guilt about even thinking of smoking. We are addicts. We conditioned ourselves for years with cigarettes. To think that we can just quit one day and never think of smoking again is setting the bar far higher than it need be. There is only one incontrovertible rule for a successful quit: DON'T SMOKE! Thinking about smoking does not violate the rule. Only the act of smoking violates the rule. Each and every thought has as much or as little power as you give it. I found that the longer I resisted those thoughts, the longer those thoughts persisted. I was fighting something that was my own creation...The situation improved dramatically when I quit doing that. I hope you stick around. Your contributions are much appreciated. Good luck going forward MLMR. Just remember: DON'T SMOKE!

I just figured out how to post gifs again. This makes me happier than a monkey driving a boat...

The Ace abides.

Way to go Robbie. Good job.

Top shelf quit. Good job G67.