Blogue de Joseph Deneault, Djeault, DjO’s Blog

I must do it and am going to, at 00h 00m 28s…

But, I finally didn’t…

§ 1. They say that one should tell everyone about her or his decision to quit smoking; it thus engages one’s responsibility to keep up to one’s word, when the due date does come into effect… I’ve now been smoking for ± 44 years; in ten days from the moment I started writing this @rticle, over a few days, I’m going to quit and that, on August 22nd 2008, or 2008-08-22, which adds up to 22, a # with high vibrations, they say… Furthermore, I was born on May 22nd! It will be like starting a new tobacco-less life, like being born again, Christians love to say or write…

§ 2. Once, in the early 80s, I quit smoking tobacco for six months; I also quit ± 10 x 10 days of meditation sprees, but I started smoking again, just after each 10 days. I remember, just after one of those sessions, maybe my first one, when someone pulled out a cigarette pack, as we were cleaning the mediation center: I felt and observed a ‘current’ from my brain to the tip of my fingers, as my arm stretched out to grab; I then realized that I had felt that wishful action, thousands and thousands of times…

§ 3. On the eighth or ninth day of another session, on the day when we may start talking again, I also recall feeling numb, when I started talking, maybe from the nicotine stocked onto my vocal chords: it was just like when you smoke your first cigarette-s. Yes indeed, nicotine and tobacco are powerfully addictive, but the physical aspect of quitting isn’t all that bad; as I said above, I did cold turkey stop ± 10 times…

§ 4. For the first three or four days, I become quite lethargic: I sleep 18, 15, 12 hours a day; on the fourth or fifth day, vital energy flows back into my organism and my sense of smell comes back to life; it’s a pleasant inner experience, which could smoothly lead to a long-term stop to a REALLY BAD habit…

§ 5. When I was a child, my family Doctor, Dr. Archambault, not to name him, always had on his desk, his red cigarette pack of a company I won’t name and also an ashtray; adds suggesting that smoking tobacco was noble, charming and manly were plentiful! Nowadays, though, powerful lobbies have been crushing down on tobacco use and users, to an almost ridiculous extent.

§ 6. I wouldn’t want to write that smoking tobacco is a great, healthy habit that doesn’t stink; however, the consequences of smoking on people’s behaviour has absolutely nothing to do with what alcohol might provoke into people; now that cigarettes have to be hidden behind covers, those covers have become a space of advertising for alcohol companies: it’s ridiculous! Moreover, convenience stores offer walls of fridges filled with beers and wines with colorful labels all screaming: ‘buy me!’

§ 7. In fact, I’m sure that we’re not hitting the right nail, when I read Mario Asselin’s @rticle presenting his father’s final departure; alcoholic people tend to scare, hurt, and even disgust the people whom they love most, apart from many others and sometimes themselves… As far I’m concerned, the decision I took to abstain from any form of alcohol, over 14 years and eight months ago, was one of the most important, I ever took in my whole lifetime if not the most…

8. Nevertheless, taking that type of quality decision doesn’t even ensure that life will go on smoothly after that, or that one won’t lose her or his job or even the love of her or his life; life sometimes, even often, is quite a rough path; however, drinking up won’t make it any easier; as for not smoking anymore, it won’t solve all problems in my life, but at least it might solve that one.

9. So, two days ahead of 2008aut22, I published this @rticle, hoping it would help me to keep up with my word; we shall see! Finally, I’ll be honnest, it didn’t work on the 22nd; thus, I’m trying again on the 2008-08-28 at 00h 00m 28 s. = 11.