Give This The Time It Takes

[YoungAtHeart]

Did you ever tackle a big project, knowing you were going to have to chip away at it, a little at a time?  Maybe it was a garage, attic, or basement clean-out, or a purge before you moved, or your parent's home?  You didn't expect to get this over with in a day or two, or probably even several weeks.

It took me an entire summer about eight years ago,  but I cleared a section of newly formed woods from my property with only a hand saw, a shovel, a rake and, eventually, a garden weasel.  Started with the locust trees and scrub cherry trees, cut them all down, and into sections.  All tolled, there were about 30 of them. I then pulled out all the grapevine and ground ivy, then the regular weeds.  Did have to get someone in to grind the tree stumps.  To my horror, though, locust trees will shoot up NEW trees all along their remaining root system.....so I then had to dig up all the locust tree roots, too. Finished with the garden weasel to break up the dirt, then raked, seeded and put straw down over the area.  I just kept at it, one day at a time, mostly only in the early mornings when it was cooler.   I still marvel that I did it, and enjoy the cleared grassy area to this day!

Kinda' like quitting smoking? This is a journey, with lots of hard work and things to discover along the way.  So - just as any other big project, you need to give it the time it takes.  And - it's gonna' take awhile - so don't expect immediate results.  be patient - the end result, like the garage clean out, is going to be worth it!

Nancy

[sweetplt]

HI Nancy YoungAtHeart and Happy Monday...I wish I could press an excellent button...I want to write something similar so often, but my writing doesn’t always come out right...quitting does take time...especially for us who smoked for so long...Thank you for sharing ... now off to the gym to start this Monday...~ Colleen 245 DOF 

[Barbara145]

I have said this before but I will say it again, I think you are amazing.  Hope all is well with this stage of your dental work.  Judging from your posts you didn't miss a beat.  Love the blog.  It is the truth about quitting.  Enjoy your day.

[djmurray]

Good morning, Nancy -- you're so right; it's always a day at a time.  And I love the analogy, because after putting in the work, you get to enjoy it for many years after.  Great blog!

[MarilynH]

I agree with Barbara you are amazing and you're 100% right about the hard work BUT boy oh boy it's so worth it....

[JACKIE1-25-15]

This is an inspiration. Bit by bit, chip by chip  I am glad you did not have anyone around telling you that you could not do it. I had to beg for my saber saw from my son.  Since it took so long for him to give it to me I have to wait until the beginning of the fall to work on the overgrowth of brush that is growing near my property.  He id a little to it but not enough to stop it. Just like quitting If you set your mind to something, nothing is impossible. 

[PastTense]

This is a near perfect analogy.

I have cleared land before, too.  It does not get done in a day.  Even if you rented heavy duty equipment to rip out the visible trees, there is still a root system to be dug out.  Those roots are our habits.  We have to break the addiction AND the habit.

Thanks for sharing

PT

[elvan]

Great blog, Nancy, and, as usual, I am in awe of your energy and your ability to do so much outside work!  I used to LOVE mowing the lawn and cleaning out little areas...notice I said LITTLE, I didn't do anything like what you are talking about.  I think it's lovely that you can look out and enjoy that grassy area now and you are so right that it is very similar to quitting smoking.

You are a STAR!

Love,

Ellen

[Mandolinrain]

Fabulous post and mighty fine read for the new ones coming in. Quits take time to grow IN us and they , like gardens, need to be kept free of weeds to survive...those sucker plants always try to find a way in

[indingrl]

WOW YOU GO Nancy - GOOD JOB clearing away the wreckage of YOUR NICOTINE addiction one thing at a time - Yahoooooooooo WAY TO GO! so cool YOU have a clear mind and field - gentle hug❤

[Christine13]

So amazing, and incredible!!  I love this analogy, Rome wasn't built in a day!!

[PrimeNumberJD]

The time it takes may be different for some, here is an extreme example from a young Mr. T

 https://military.id.me/humor/this-paul-bunyan-story-about-mr-t-in-the-army-is-absolutely-insane/ 

I think you exemplified this very well! 

[jonimarie]

YoungAtHeart Since I have been with Ex this for me is one of your best and my favorite blogs.

A bookmark for me

[YoungAtHeart]

My gosh; I am flattered. 

Thank you.

[YoungAtHeart]

TU!

[Giulia]

No wiser words could be said than the title of the blog:  Give This The Time It Takes.

Like you, Nancy,  I too have beaten back the bush.  We are such kindred spirits and I admire the hell out of you.  There were two incidents, and they happened in the past 15 years.  The clearing, cleaning, altering of the land in my 30's was a joy.  An effort, but a joy.  These other two in my 60s were not.  Both involved trees.  HUGE trees.  One was a 60' pine that fell onto our neighbors property back in NC.  We were no longer living at the house, (had already moved here to TN but hadn't sold that other house and were kind of stressed), but kept an airbed on the floor and a couple of chairs, a folding card table and some pots and pans as we had it on the market.  One of us would go back and spend a few days there doing maintenance (5 hour drive).   Cutting back the HIDEOUS wisteria vines, washing the basement walls down of the mold, weed wacking the scrub, etc.  This was part of the maintenance.  The tree had fallen and my neighbors had cut it and taken it off the road that separated our properties.  (One of them had a tractor - hey, that made it easier.  And no, they didn't call us to tell us this had happened.)  I got there to discover it.   I worked for a solid week clearing that tree off my neighbors property.  We didn't have extra money to spend for someone else to do it when I could do it myself.  And do I wonder why my body hurts now as it does?  No.  

We'd already had about 60 trees - that were dangerous and leaning - felled and removed on our piece of property between our house and another neighbor about 5 years prior.  NOT cheap.  But there were still a few left.  I am not a fan of pine trees.  Dealt with them back in our house in NY State too.  I have come to hate pine trees.  Especially the shallow rooted ones.

Anyway, I took it slow - no way else to take it.  I was  in my 60s (like you were at the time you did your clearing of the forest, right, Nancy?)  Began chain sawing up the 20' limbs at the top, dragging them across the road onto our scrub lot. Then cut the base of the 60' trunk into I guess maybe 10" wide chunks.  Couldn't move it if it was any thicker because the circumference was so large they were just too heavy to move at all.  Rolled each piece by hand across the road and up the 2' ditch and into our property.  One by one, inch by inch, hour by hour, day by day.  For a week.  That was not an act of love.  That was an act of penance and necessity.

Then a couple of years ago here, we had a HUGE Hickory, I think it was, felled out by the barn.  To save money we told them to leave the top and just take away the trunk.  "Oh, I'll just cup up the top," say I.  Learned another good lesson.  It took me ALL WINTER to cut up that top.  I used almost every single scrap of it.  I cut it into kindling sized pieces and then cut the limbs and then split the limbs and stacked them in the barn.  I had no idea that a limb of this tree would be - what - a foot across.  I learned.  But at least this was on the property we LOVED, not the one we hated.  And though it was not a penalty, it wasn't exactly a joy until it was accomplished.  In the other case, even after it was accomplished there was no joy to be had in the effort.  

My point, like Nancy's is - "This is a journey, with lots of hard work and things to discover along the way." 

Some tough work is kind of fun.  Especially when we see the rewards.  Some isn't, like quit maintenance.  Some is just a penalty.  But even with the penalty, although there may not be joy, there is a certain amount of satisfaction in saying "I DID IT!"

We do end up marveling at our accomplishment of quitting as the years go by.  Her truth "give this the time it takes" - you need to really take into your cells and the marrow of your bones.  This is the truth one must accept in order to have that "forever" quit we all so dearly want.  

There are a lot more HUGE hickories that are going to come down here.  And they're going to fall (fortunately) over the fence that keeps our neighbor's cows at bay and not on the barn nor the house .  I think I'll just chain saw them away from the fence, fix the fence and leave them there.  I've learned.  There is THAT about getting older.  We DO learn.  And you will learn more and more about your quit as you age into it.

(Sorry, just needed tell my own story here, my friend.  Hope you don't mind my rambling.)  

[YoungAtHeart]

No - I enjoyed it.  I mostly just feel like a freak in my world.  I am the only woman I know like you and it's nice to have company!  Most of those I know look at me with wonderment - they can barely weed a small flower garden.  I have also painted every room  (including the 10' ceilings)  inside my big old Victorian house, and the cedar shingles, trim and under the rain gutters on the first floor all the way around outside.  LOVED it!  Getting too old for high  ladders now - and I miss being able to do that - but I AM currently working on a huge area that got overtaken with ground ivy and weeds in the back of my property.  I LIKE physical labor!!  Just can't go at it for as many hours at a time anymore!

(and we wonder why we have arthritis????!!!!!!?????)

[Giulia]

I cannot imagine painting a 10' ceiling.  I've done a small 7' one, but 10' OMG, your arms must have been like rubber after!  And you also painted the outside of the house on the first floor??!!!!  Wow.  Can you imagine what we could do together!!!!  Maybe we should go into business.  We could call our company UP YOURS!  "We get it done and we get it done right.  You don't like it - up yours!"  Mmmmm, that might not sell too well.  TWO OLD LADIES AND A LADDER!  "If you insure, we're sure."  TWO OLD FART FAIRIES IN A GARDEN  "We don't smell good, but we weed well."

[Mandolinrain]

Well I am going this little group then too! I cant stand NOT being busy. My gardens my house...and the hours of barn work ( well not now on that one), but you get my drift. I have unloaded and loaded more bales of hay over the years and sawdust wagons and mucked stalls, daily for over 30 years. Painted every room in last house and most of the ceilings, but they were not 10ft. Cut and stacked wood alongside hubby...We are rugged and I will be this way till I am push daisys. My hands are proof  lol

[YoungAtHeart]

You get on a ladder and use an extension pole for the roller. 

We ARE

                                                     WOMAN!

[Giulia]

Gonna have to change our company name to Triple Threat!  "You name it, we do it!"  But I don't know - we might laugh so hard we'd never get anything done at all!

[Jessica5999]

Thank you! This was inspirating. I needed a pick me up.