I quit smoking a mere 5 days ago. And I am awesome. AND apparently have the willpower of a VERY WILLPOWERY person!
I always thought my willpower was hidden away somewhere with my as-yet-unfound impulse control and my never-to-be-found patience. People say patience is a virtue, but I have to tell you, it is a virtue I have never possessed. ADHD much? Mayyyyybe...ooh! Shiny! Skip, jump, bounce. *waddle like penguin and make penguin sounds.* What? I'm not ADHD.
Here’s the thing though: I do feel proud of myself, to a certain extent. I mean, I was a smoker for close to 10 years, and in all that time have made maybe 2 efforts to quit, both of which ended before 24 hours had passed. But at the same time, it hasn’t been hard. I expected to be fighting cravings like a superhero and using willpower to scale difficult times of shivering, foaming-at-the-mouth withdrawal symptoms.
How wrong I was. For whatever reason, I woke up one morning, said “I am DONE.” And proceeded to take the last few cigarettes out of my purse to give the boyfriend, and bouncingly went about my day.
Where is the STRUGGLE? Where are the HARDSHIPS?
Dammit. How am I ever going to become a superhero, if I have no obstacles and struggles to overcome? What the heck?! No one ever becomes a superhero because they were supremely average and just went about their day—even of it includes SKIPPING!!
On the other hand, I suppose I have options. I could go be exposed to a ton of radiation, get toxic waste spilled on me (a la Alex Mack…oh yeah, baby…90s reference!), maybe get bitten by some sort of bionic insect. Any suggestions? Help a poor, well-adjusted kid become superhero-worthy?
This isn’t even fodder for a good children’s book! “Jyssica woke up one morning perfectly fine, and had a good day.” No one wants to read that!
I need excitement! I need villains. I need something! If I am ever going to become a superhero and have powers, and become the stuff that myths, children’s tales, and newspaper stories are made of, SOMEthing is going to have to change around here!
Maybe you're already such a huge super hero and thats why quitting is so easy.... Even if you're not a super hero yet, you're at least at a smoky the bear level of spreading enviromentally conscious and healthy messages to the masses. -mike
ReplyDeleteI HAVE A COMMENT!! Michael, I adore you and all that you stand for. Please note that you will be given more than a third of my love and attention from the wellspring of emotion I have for our group, from here on out. :)You, my dear, are COMPLETELY AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteImpressive, Jyss. I faltered after 2 days the last time I tried quitting.
ReplyDeleteAnyway... awesome sauce. Keep it up!