Recreation…

Tonight, and most of this week actually, i would very much like to have a shot of Bushmills and a Budweiser and a Newport, and then a shot of Jager and a Yuengling and a Newport.  (I switched to menthols after i came back from India.  Extended international travel will play hell with your cigarette brand loyalty.)

Last night was the 6 week mark on this cleansing/abstinence thing i have going on – 6 weeks without smokes, or booze, or coffee.  In general, i feel pretty good, and my teeth continue to look better and brighter.  My clothes, car, and person smell better.  And even though i have been slacking on the vigorous exercise the past 2 weeks, i am still hitting 190 on the scale and continuing to transform that weight from beer flab into muscles through not drinking beer and doing much walking and golfing.  I fit into all my fancy suits again.  The pants are a little tight at the waist on my favorite suit, but that is really a Spring/Summer affair and i should be groovy for it by then.

I am getting much more sleep than i have since probably 1990.  I am getting an average of 8 hours, and no less than 7 of solid, uninterrupted sleep (as opposed to the 4-6 i have been rocking on average for the past twenty years).  That is awesome.  But, i am having more dreams and more vivid dreams.  That is also awesome – mostly.  I am now up to 7 times in my tally of frustrating dreams.  That is right people, my subconscious is cheating and i am drinking and smoking up a storm in my sleep.  I feel that this is deeply unfair.  It is like when you dream about work.  You wake up unfulfilled, frustrated, and trying to figure out how to clock-in or otherwise bill for those hours.  I have no one to bill, i just wake up with a craving.

It passes quickly.  Oddly, i have not missed or craved coffee at all – i don’t even dream about it.  Sometimes when i smell my mom’s morning cup of coffee brewing i get a little pre-nicotine rush – but that passes quickly and does not bring up a coffee craving, just the desire for smoke.

It is the evenings that are hardest, like right now.

2 thoughts on “Recreation…”

  1. I gave up all coffee. That was my only caffeine as i don’t drink tea in the US, and i quit sodas years ago. I did not have a huge amount to give up either as i am a simple plain black man. I would enjoy the occasional cappuccino – but less than 10 a year. The first two days of no coffee were a little difficult, but it was all for the greater purpose of quitting smoking. So, decaf would not have worked for me. First, i don’t really enjoy the taste of inexpensive decaf (and i only buy inexpensive coffee – generally Folgers). Second, decaf would not help me not want to smoke with my morning coffee – so it had to go. And like i have said here a few times – i really do not miss it at all. I drank at least 72 oz a day even in the summer…

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