Still not smoking three years later

I quit smoking in the third week of September in 2015. Here I am three years later still not choosing to smoke. I am regularly exposed to second hand smoke from my room mate. I also walk by smokers every day on my way to work as my entrance to work is one place smokers gather. But I am happily smoke free and now with dedication and a weight lose food tracking app, I am losing the extra 35 pounds I put on in the last few years.

To be honest I dropped my new leaf and need to pick it up again.

I need to be honest. When I was temporarily separated from my motorized toothbrush I gave up brushing my teeth again.  I also gave up waking up at 6 AM after an overnight flight. I need to start these again today, Sunday.

New leaf working

I have been brushing my teeth every morning and evening until Wednesday evening when I could not because I was travelling.  I got separated from my electric tooth brush snd now Friday evening will start again. Besides the night I traveled overnight and the next day, I have woken up early each day before 8 AM. This early waking is also part of the new leaf I am turning over. You could call this new leaf a fiscal new year's resolution.

My new self care leaf. Consistently following a new routine.

My new routine is nothing special really but I was not doing this previously. I decided to brush my teeth in the morning and evening. I have done this for three days now. Already my gums have stopped bleeding. I have also woken up early for a few days now consistently.

Attending a lot of meetings and next week turning over a new leaf.

Next week I plan to wake up early every day and brush my teeth starting today and continuing on Sunday and into next week. I have been attending a number of self help meetings and moving forward with confidence.

Hitting some relapse thoughts

Much of my recovery readings and some of my meetings touch on the topic of relapse. Partly with smoking this is called a craving. At this point in my smoke free life my body is changing, as after two and a half years smoke free, my metabolism is improving. I am trying to stay physically active using phones and fitness watches and this has been working well. At the same time, I am trying to cut down on using food for comfort and trying to eat less.

Recovery is going well.

I have some moments of comfort. I have started to develop a phone network of supporters out side my family and usual circles and inside recovery circles. Yes, I am also enjoying a productive life now and a healthy life.

Feeling older more confused

I am reaching my sixties soon. I am more often confused and frustrated than in the past.

Blogging regularly.

I fell behind in my New Year's resolution to blog everyday this year. I seem to have lasted one month. I was overloaded perhaps trying to update 7 different blogs. That was perhaps an arbitrary goal and I should have planned better.

Reading about spiritual transformation.

I am reading a book about spiritual transformation.  I have read the first chapter.  It is giving me some insights as I read this book by Institute of Noetic  Sciences. This institute was founded by Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell in 1973. I may have heard of this before but the book is new to me. I am reading it now in January and am at an airport as I wait overnight for an early morning flight.

This year my goals for the year concern writing and learning.

Writing and learning are good activities to engage recovery. My new year's goals centre around more writing and more learning of music and technical subjects. I am also succeeding so far in sticking to borrowing less money. I am not totally successful with this. I am being successful with keeping some savings and also paying back debt at a reasonably quick rate that is not an emotionally stressful rate too. Yes, things are in balance around finances right now.

The most depressing day of the year was fine for me and I picked up my work place a little.

I was doing alright mood wise today. I picked up my pace of work after not having much work directly in front of me last week. A number of things improved in my life over the weekend and I volunteered so gave back to my community.

Moving along with recovery as a more daily activity

I decided recovery should not just happen on Saturdays when the work week is over but I should try to read and study recovery literature everyday. Perhaps I am trying to do too much. That, in fact, was something I thought about this week, saying no.

I met with a workplace psychologist this week.

I have an employee assistance program at work and I use it generally to meet with a counseling psychologist. I discussed getting out of debt, traveling I do, and read some daily meditations with him.

Reading daily meditations needs to continue for me.

These daily meditation readers break me out of my bubble and get me to experience life others have and also helps me learn 12 step materials.

I made day 1 of not borrowing.

It is struggle to get the debtor's anonymous program working for me. It did though lead me back to the 12 steps in a bigger way and I quit smoking. I managed to cancel an order for a new Apple computer and made plans to do without that new Apple computer. I investigated used computers or not using that type of Apple computer at all. I have a number of other types of computers. The progress here is also that I am replacing a broken Apple computer or trying to get it working a little longer. No need yet for the new Apple computer.

I am still not smoking.

I have maintained my quit with smoking. I have not smoked in over 2 years and 3 months and have not had nicotine in 2 years and 1 month. This is a small 12 step success story I have definitely obtained.