One Week Later

It has been over a week since I quit smoking and I am doing just fine. Actually, I'm doing better than fine - who am I kidding? Seriously, quitting smoking is already one of the best choices I have made - possibly ever. Yup, ever. And it has only been one week. Last night at 9PM was the one week mark.

Today I ran an errand to PetSmart for my lunch. Yesterday I went to the bank and got gas during my lunch. The day before... I do not remember what I did but I know I ran an errand. It used to be that I would run to Wawa every other day on my lunch break to buy cigarettes. Sometimes more often than that but on average, every other day. It is really nice to have the time to get my errands out of the way at lunch now instead of having to go buy cigarettes. It gives me more time in the evening too... generally I am just overall finding myself with more time. It did not even occur to me how much time out of my life was devoted to my smoking habit prior to this. It is nice to have my life back to myself.

Second thought (we're working on three here) is my lack of hangover after drinking now. Not that I'm out doing shot after shot or anything but for a while there, even the slightest amount of alcohol (except vodka, I discovered) was causing me to be massively hungover. I drank some red wine last night and still woke up feeling good this morning. I am currently convinced that me quitting smoking is the main ingredient my hangovers needed to be so horrible. I seriously think it probably has something to do with the liver not having to work through so incredibly many toxins. It still has to do that but we're talking thousands of less toxins going through my poor little liver. (I assume it's kind of small... I've never actually seen one.) It only makes sense that it's probably working the way it is supposed to now.

Third thought. Food tastes good. This is a well-known fact about quitting smoking, yet, I did not fully believe it until last Sunday night when I bit into a piece of sharp cheese and - for the first time in memory - could taste why they call it "sharp". Granted, now I'm not so sure that I am crazy about sharp cheese but I have to admit, it was exciting. Nerve endings have grown back... how cool is that? It was funny because today I was feeling pretty blah about my lunch. A small salad and a side of sweet potatoes. I kept telling myself that I will survive having such a bland lunch. (Yes, food is that important to me... I need to talk myself down from running out to get a cheeseburger and fries sometimes.) Weird thing was, once I bit down into the sweet potato I was very much pleased. Very much. I could taste it - and it tasted really good. Good enough to make me smile about my lunch after all.

Not smoking rocks. Not that I do not still have my moments of "I wish I could right now but..." because I do. The thing is, I do not want to go back to feeling the way I did. Not being able to get out of bed in the morning. Mild depression sort of always underlying everything. Hangovers from hell. Anxiety often. Not stinking and tasting my food are just bonuses. Being able to hug my sick nephew without guilt about what is on me that could hurt him... priceless. Absolutely priceless.