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Share your quitting journey

Another Monday of "Herding Cats"

Pops
Member
5 12 227
‎02-10-2020 09:08 AM

Good morning EXers!

Happy Monday....and hey...one week from today, if you are still working, you will be able to stay home for another "federal holiday", (Presidents' day...Woo Hoo!)  I have to attend a few meetings this morning, and then it's back to the desk to pound out some more contract documents....Oh the joy of working into your "golden years." ;-(  I have nobody to blame but myself for not putting away enough when I was younger....If you are a younger reader....please heed my advice and start putting away a minimum of ten percent of your income into a retirement plan of some sort before you even begin to figure out where to spend your money.  Pay yourself "first", then sort out what is left to determine your lifestyle.  You will then have something when the time comes to retire....

Pops is taking the big plunge in April of 2023.  That is my new get out of jail free date...I am not going to extend it either.  This job will be my "last W-2 form".  No more working...I just can't see me working at a Home Depot or Walmart.  Heck, I'm not even interested in being a golf course marshall.  I'm going to enjoy every moment of everyday that I'm still alive in retirement.....

My thoughts are moving out of the Maryland area (too high in taxes) to one of the Carolinas...I like the idea of Southern Appalachia.  I guess I have this deep down desire to be a "natural hill-billy" enjoying mountain music in my older days.  Banjos strumming, fiddles fiddlin', spoons rattling on washboards, boots stomping & tenor voices singing...sounds like heaven to me...

Enjoy your smokefree Monday.....xoxoxo Pops w/166 Days of Freedom

12 Comments
About the Author
Hi, and thanks for stopping by to read my page....My name is Ken Bishop...aka, Pops. I am a stubborn older addict of nicotine....I have quit on numerous occasions in the past, and have experienced great rewards as a direct result of not ingesting deadly toxins into my bloodstream. One of the curses of having a strong constitution that seems to be able to withstand much more than others can...is this...my body would still be able to move around, and get things accomplished even after I was poisoned by the harmful effects of nicotine addiction. Eventually, the harm became so significant, that not even I, with all of my denial...could avoid the truth that to continue to smoke, would most assuredly be the death of me, and in short order as well. On Sept 1st, of 2018...I found myself in a rehab facility for alcohol abuse, and came very near death. I quit messing around, and had a deep and moving spiritual encounter, and have remained sober without one single urge to pick up a drink since. That was after consuming copious amounts of booze for many years in the past. After a short while.. I asked for spiritual help from my creator to make it possible for me to get the same amount of conviction towards finally being able to successfully put down nicotine once and for all...As of....(September 14th, 2019)...I have 17 days of living smokefree! Woo Hoo!!! Friends and family are all very proud and happy for me. They have asked me what I thought was the turning point, after having experienced so many failed attempts before. I simply reply, "I took the God Shot". xoxoxo Pops update: in Dec of 19 when the stock market started going nuts...I used that as an excuse to start smoking again. I see-sawed back and forth for severa months, and when the COVID crisis hit, I simply lost all desire to be smokefree...I was going to smoke & that was final. Well, as always...the pains of excessive injestion of nicotine into my blood stream...(one puff is all it takes) started affecting my everyday life again...I knew I had to quit placating my inner child and grow up and accept a life without nicotine. The normal person would read this and say well duh...finally he's getting it. But the normally addicted nicotine addict would understand...weird huh? So now I'm back with a new quit date of July 8th, 2020 & am hoping that I can accept that as a perfect quit date that does not need to be changed. Thanks for reading and good luck to you in your quit journey. Pops w 4 DOF!