Well, having made it through hell week, I'm happy to say there are some firsts that I don't have to count again. My first Monday comes immediately to mind. Monday again. Muuuuuunday. My southern accent comes out and I say it like a bad word or an STD. Ha! Mon is "my" in French, so Monday is My Day. I'm good with that! I need to stop disliking Mondays and just make them mine. You do too. We all do, so let's just be French today. I came out of my withdrawal induced fog over the weekend, and really turned on the burners. We were so behind this holiday season.....no decorations, very little shopping, just...way behind. No so anymore! House is decorated, the credit cards practically melted and a good bit of wrapping was completed. My husband and I threw ourselves into it and BAM! Christmas. We host a drop in for friends every Christmas Eve, and this year we added hosting an oyster roast on New Years Day to the mix. Needless to say, I didn't have any time to waste! If I could have that energy burst every day, I'd be unstoppable. We went to a Christmas drop in last night. It was wonderful to visit with friends who are all non-smokers. It was a safe, safe zone, and it was nice to spend an evening in good company with great food and delicious wine. There was no temptation to smoke. My husband is traveling a good bit this week. Even in my strong Quit, the voice in my head told me that I could smoke and no one would know. It reminds me that regardless of your commitment, there's always a part of your brain that will encourage you to smoke. There's no chance that I will smoke this week, next week, next month or next year....but the voice in my head is still there. I wonder about those of you who had more challenging quits and am impressed with your abilities to ignore those voices. I'm thankful for another smoke-free day, thankful that we made so much progress in our Christmas preparations, and am thankful for the support from this site. Make Monday yours....and if you can't, be sure to throw an extra bit of nastiness in there when you say Muuuuunday. It'll help. Stay strong and don't forget to Control your Quit! xx Susan
