Well here we are at a brand new year. Yes it is 2018 and a totally new year, a new start, a new chapter, hopefully a new life.
Today is the day most people make their new year’s resolutions, probably after a hard night out partying, drinking too much, over eating. Most new year’s resolutions are about quitting smoking, exercising more, giving up the grog, these are what seem the most popular. For me I have never really got into the whole new year’s resolution thing, writing out goals and setting dates when I was going to achieve such and such. I know that we all start out with good intentions but not long after we fall back into our own life and routine and our same old dramas which lead us to smoke, drink or overeat.
For real change to happen we need commitment and we need some form of motivation to keep going when the going gets tough.
For me it is a decision. I remember when I gave up smoking back in December of 1999. I had for some time been thinking it was becoming too expensive to keep smoking and I did try and reduce the number of cigarettes I was having each day, but one day that changed. I was coming to the end of my pack and just decided after this pack I would not buy any more. Yep, just like that, decision made, I wasn’t going to smoke anymore, I couldn’t afford it. Mind you a pack of 25’s cost around $5 back then, a carton of 10 packs (250) cost like $25, I am so glad I gave up way back then because now it costs more for one pack than it used to cost for a carton.
There were things I didn’t like about smoking for sure, I didn’t enjoy the smell, I didn’t like how everything, my clothes, the car, house all smelled of smoke, I didn’t like the cough I was developing and I was self conscious around non-smokers but it was purely a decision to quit because of affordability. So then and there it was no more. And from that day on I have not bought any cigarettes or had a smoke at all. Not one. I know that if I did have a puff or a smoke I would want more, so best option is not to go there in the first place. To not give into temptation. Still now 18 years on I still at times have cravings, well more like sometimes when I smell cigarette smoke and I notice I could easily have one. It is only sometimes I get that feeling but it is still there and still I know that I will not give in because I probably be hooked again and this is something I do not want to do. I know it takes around 10 years for the effects of smoking to leave my system. I did not want to start again.
I do admit though at times when I smell others smoke I wish i didn’t. I do like to open my windows of my house to fresh air and not the smoky air of my neighbours sitting out the back puffing away.
So with new years upon us, I think of what decisions I will make to improve my life this coming year. I have decided to only allow peace, happiness, ease, joy, fun, abundance and health. I have decided to let go of drama, stress, pain, challenge, lack, struggle and things being hard. No more. It is a decision. I have decided to let go of what is not working to make room for more peace, abundance and joy to come into my life. I have decided to get my finances in order this coming year, have decided to declutter my life and possessions and only have what brings me joy in my life. A year of gaining more clarity, more self awareness and more connection.
Robyn Lemsing
29th December 2017