" I quit"

nah I don’t quit. I used to be proud of people when they told me they quit “insert bad habit here”. The truth is, these days I’m more interested in what good habit you're going to replace that bad habit with. I’m guilty of having an addictive personality, I know, and have associated with so many people that are just like me. I think society as a whole has been given so many things to become addicted to, here we are. I’ve come to the realization that in order to “quit” a bad habit, I have to replace it with a good one. That’s going to be my key to success!

Being a Hairstylist, smoking cigarettes is oddly a big part of the culture, at least it was when I started. Another big part of the scene is, “grabbing a drink (or six) after work. I do think that is a big part of being in your twenties, and I certainly followed that trend. Any chance I could get to socialize outside of work I took. If that meant drinking until the bar closed I was in!

you can probably see how this could become a bad habit quick. Especially having an addictive personality. not only was my mind craving it, but so was my body.

After having many bad “run in’s” I won’t go into detail here, if you know you know. I realized that I should probably tone down on my drinking.

Now you might be thinking….G how did you “take the edge off after a long day of work”. Well… it took a while, my smoking was still pretty regular in the beginning but… at least I wasn’t embarrassing my self by dancing on tables and saying rude shit to people that I was embarrassed about the next day. (some people consider this the life of the party). Not to mention the next morning when I realized I’ve literally poisoned myself and it sure as hell felt like it.

so any ways, ya I was smoking, but I needed to kick one habit at a time, and drinking was the worse of the two at that time so I focused on kicking that. When I had that urge to poor a glass of wine, I replaced it with herbal tea. If you're going to be addicted to something herbal tea is it. Herbs have many health benefits and no caffeine is even better. Naturally as my drinking subsided so did my urge to smoke, I was more aware of how I felt, how I smelt. This is when I declared my healthy living journey.

I wanted to take care of my body, and my mind. I made the decision to dive a little deeper. What was the reasoning to lean on this habit, was I masking something? Self medicating? Why was I
taking the “edge off”. If I was feeling the need to take the “edge” off its time to dig a little deeper on what that “edge” actually is and face that feeling or thought head on. Figure out what is making me feel that way. That was another good habit i’ve formed from taking away the “crutch” or the bandaid. it’s not easy, to face your emotions. but it is healing, and it only forces you to grow as a human being. That’s why we are placed on this earth right?

like I said, I never told my self “i’m going to “quit” drinking, or i’m going to “quit” smoking. for me that mindset just didn’t work, and it put it into a negative frame. I needed something positive to focus on, that was going to benefit my health instead of hurt my health.

So now I drink lots of herbal tea, drive safe, take lots of walks, do yoga, try to replace screen time with self help books, enjoy outside time, and do my best to find balance in life. And when I get that urge, or feel the need, I think first, I don’t beat myself up about it if I have a beer or the occasional cigarette. but its no longer a part of my daily life. and I know I don’t want it there.

thanks for reading about my life, and if I opened the eyes of anyone out there ive done my job. this life can be tricky. you have to find what does and doesn’t work for your soul. and some of us need to learn the hard way

much love

G<3