I am kinda with you...I have quit a couple times, with the longest being 2 years...and next longest 6 months. Both times, I have learned some lessons. 1. It only takes one cigarette to get hooked again. 2. Don't go out drinking alcohol without being mentally prepared to refuse a cigarette.
This time, I have been done for a little over a year. I highly respect the way and reason I quit and I will never turn back to smoking again. But like you, even the thought for a cigarette gets the juices in my mouth activated. However, I knew what I went through this last time I quit....nothing fun. So, as I have the juices flowing in my mouth, I know for 100% fact that today I have it a lot easier to deny myself a smoke.
Not to mention....I don't smell like a cigarette. .....my teeth are clean white .....food taste better .....with just one year, I have about $4000.00 extra in my pocket ....no more late night runs out to buy cigarettes...even if I have to travel 30 miles for them ....I can breath much better in the morning .....and I know smokers and every time I hear them coughing, I thank God I was able to stop ....and actually I thank another special woman in my life who encouraged me to quit too. :)
....so Cat...I would vote to stay on the side of non-smoking.
M4.....I would not mind a feminist......as long she was not so far to the extreme to the hate side of things. At that point, I suppose, she would not be with me anyway.
Molly, yes...although with my brown thumb, I bet they could still let me down.
You know, I was just listening to a seminar from a Yale graduate and he referenced all his rich intelligent friends. He mentioned something about all of them having their second spouses....maybe money talks these days....and a lot of it.
Just wondering Molly. :) Like I said with KN, I am just wondering if this hate is increasing or not among women toward men. I don't know....and I hope we are just all being manipulated or brainwashed....but it really seems like a lot of men who have responded on the blog here seems to think it might be. That is kinda what I feel myself too. I guess Molly, you would need to be a man to see how women treat you. Perhaps it is a self-fulfilling prophecy? ...again, don't know....that is the purpose of this blog...maybe discover something.
"Most men would give everything they have for a kind, gentle, respectful, loving, hard working, trustworthy, modest and intelligent woman" I agree with that statement. Daniela has talked about how women have certain traits that have through the generations have been passed down to them...either consciously or sub-consciously. Well, I think the same can be said about men. A woman once told me...and I never realized this...but she said, it is inherent in men for them to want to take care of the woman in his life. That statement aligns with what you just mentioned there.
"Men...treated as second class people" That sort of mindset is supported when you watch media outlets and they specifically point out white men as being some sort of evil.
I am not too aware of how children are being treated these days. But I do know (well, have heard) that if you are going to change a society, start with the children.
I totally agree with remaining optimistic in life. :)
....not to mention, everything else you say too I agree with.
I know in the Philippines that divorce is difficult...which has couples remain together. Just the symbolism that creates to children as they grow speaks volumes. Now, to agree or disagree with the policy there about divorce is another blog in and of itself.
A lot of how we perceive the world as adults has blossomed from when we were children.
Thank you for sharing your experience....that is concerning with what you say. ...."many"
If women..or men for that matter...operate day to day life affairs with a bias of hate for the opposite gender, I would think pretty soon we will have a distancing from each other...or there will be widespread conflict between to two.
Because, as a rule of thumb it is said, you cannot communicate/associate with irrationality, without becoming irrational yourself. (not in all cases...but as a rule of thumb) The other way to communicate/associate with irrationality, is to distance yourself from it.
The way I see the path of the world right now....there is both conflict/distancing that is growing between genders.
Thank you...I am happy you appreciated the blog. As with responses...first, if I am posting a blog and allowing responses, I should hope for responses and an attempt at a two-way dialect. Secondly, if somebody is willing to take their time and offer their genuine articulated thoughts on the matter, I feel I owe them that with my response to them.
If I am understanding you correctly Red, with your participation of those events, a lot of it was from the drive of feeling part of something....perhaps anyway....more so than what the event represented itself.
You know, I have witness something similar...if I have interpreted what you said correctly. When going to auctions...I see a lot of people there. I think to myself, hmmm, there is going to be a lot of competitive bidding today. Usually, the larger the crowd, the more bidding there is. However, after going to 1000's of auctions over 20 years or so, I have discovered many auction goers just go because they like auctions...the atmosphere of them...they have no intention at all at bidding/winning anything.
Perhaps, the stimulation of emotions (auctions stimulate a lot of emotions with bidders) with these events, makes the participate feel more alive? At very minimum, it fights of the monotonousness nature of daily life with many?
RE: Been Smoking Recently?
Cat,I am kinda with you...I have quit a couple times, with the longest being 2 years...and next longest 6 months. Both times, I have learned some lessons. 1. It only takes one cigarette to get hooked again. 2. Don't go out drinking alcohol without being mentally prepared to refuse a cigarette.
This time, I have been done for a little over a year. I highly respect the way and reason I quit and I will never turn back to smoking again. But like you, even the thought for a cigarette gets the juices in my mouth activated. However, I knew what I went through this last time I quit....nothing fun. So, as I have the juices flowing in my mouth, I know for 100% fact that today I have it a lot easier to deny myself a smoke.
Not to mention....I don't smell like a cigarette.
.....my teeth are clean white
.....food taste better
.....with just one year, I have about $4000.00 extra in my pocket
....no more late night runs out to buy cigarettes...even if I have to travel 30 miles for them
....I can breath much better in the morning
.....and I know smokers and every time I hear them coughing, I thank God I was able to stop
....and actually I thank another special woman in my life who encouraged me to quit too. :)
....so Cat...I would vote to stay on the side of non-smoking.
Good luck to you.