New Year’s Resolutions

I can’t say I’ve been very good at making resolutions. Certainly, I have not been good at keeping the ones I made! I suppose I’m not alone in this behavior; I may be somewhat alone in making the admission, however.

Having said that, I did make two resolutions one New Year’s Day and kept both of them.

It was twelve years ago. It was January 1, 2006. I vowed to quit smoking. If successful, I also vowed to quit drinking alcohol. I managed to do both and early in the year.

Smoking ceased on the day I made the resolution. I smoked my last cigarette at 5 pm on January 1^st, 2006. I bought the ‘patch’ and used them as instructed for 30 days. I bought another month’s supply but kept forgetting to use them during the first 8 days of the second month. I had quit! And I never looked back.

I had smoked for 44 years with one interlude of cessation lasting 7 years. I smoked 4 packs a day. When I returned to smoking after the 7-year interlude, I went immediately back to 4 packs a day. That taught me the nature of addiction. The brain knows its pattern and will demand a return to it at the same level or higher. Never lower. That’s the physical reality of the brain altered by the substance it abuses.

On March 21, 2006, I tackled the second resolution. I walked into Central DuPage Hospital and admitted myself to alcohol rehab. They accepted me. One week in residence there, I had ceased drinking and kicked the desire for it. Two weeks more of half-days, and I was learning the methods to remain sober. Seven more months of weekly group sessions, and I had cemented the methodology to remain sober.

And I wanted this outcome. I needed this outcome. The two came together. And it has been a successful transition from abuse to sobriety. That’s my story. I own it. It is public. Twelve years later I am still clean of cigarettes and alcohol. And my brain couldn’t be better, clearer or more resolute in keeping it that way.

The journey has had its moments of struggle, but the more I live it the more I realize that the future belongs outside of me and into the lives of others. That’s what got me out of the ditch and back on the road. And that keeps me on the path of positive outcomes, too.

2006 was a difficult year of accomplishment and ill health. So, too, 2007. But now I’m whole again and I intend to keep it that way.

Happy New Year, indeed!

January 2, 2018