Month after month, I have reviewed what’s been happening at Skillful Means, but I have also written about some of the written and unwritten challenges (a.k.a things I want to do). The unwritten ones are those that I thought were kind of “iffy”. Those items that I really didn’t have a good starting point for, or didn’t know how I would continue. Most of my challenges have and “ending” point, a number perhaps, that shows that I have at least done what I had set out to do, and hopefully picked up some good habits a long the way. Only a couple were long term challenges that I did not associate and ending point, these seem much more difficult. For example, quitting smoking. Composting is something, kind of like quitting smoking, that once I begin I would like to continue without a planned end point (maybe the planned end point in this case would be death).
I am officially quit by the way, I have not purchased a pack of cigarettes for myself since long before I left my last job. It has been at least 4 months or so… Yeah!
Composting – First Steps First
Composting is actually a first step to something else I would really like to work on, developing a garden. The garden may take some time to develop because of some challenges, and it is not highest on my priority list, but there should be no reason not to start the one without the other, should there? I didn’t think so. But I did need one very important thing, the perfect container in which to capture the organic kitchen material I would compost, and two, and probably more importantly, remind me to compost.
And I found it, this cool little number from Snapware. I really love it.
I know, it may seem weird for me to get all excited about a plastic container, but this one is kind of cool.
An old plastic ice bucket is what we used before, open at the top, but it was bulky and got in the way. It ended up cracked and broke with time, and needed a replacement. This thing snaps up, so if it is raining, or I don’t want to make a trip out to my pile-o-compost, I can just leave it on the sink, and it is all good. The full top snaps on, and it has another opening, shown above, where I can just add organic material and close it back up. I picked this one up at Fred Meyer for about nine bucks, and I know it will definitely be worth it. It fits much more comfy on my counter top than the old ice bucket ever did.
Yeah, I’m excited about plastic container. I’m even more excited about thinking about a garden.
Thank you for all of your good thoughts on quitting smoking.
I wanted to give an update to this post after a brief conversation I had with my other half last night. When I had written the post, it was really not about quitting smoking at all and I had not really given much thought to the time span of my quitting. After speaking with my other half, he corrected and mentioned that I had officially quit in January, if you do not count the occasional brief failing. For me, I’m still quit if I don’t have a pack that I own. If you are a quit smoker you probably know exactly what I mean. If you have no had trouble quitting smoking or have never smoked it might be a little bit more difficult to understand, I know I had to recently try to explain it to a friend. (Perhaps, I should write a post about it in the future).
I don’t really count “since January” because there was one week in abouts late January or early February that I had bought cigarettes, only to quit a week after. This for me was what I would call a failure, but quickly redeemed.
Since that one time in February, I have had a few cigarettes since, I’m guessing less than ten in total. Each was with one particular friend that likes to have a smoking buddy after drinking tequila. She has no idea what withdrawals are like, and I have only mentioned it gently. It is wonderful spending time with her, so I enjoy the moments knowing full well that I will be dealing with withdrawal symptoms for approximately three days to a week afterwards. Is it worth it? The answer really would be different depending on if I’m in the middle of feeling withdrawn from nicotine or not
I know I am strong enough to quit the next morning so usually I’m just fine with it.
I do have some thoughts as to an upcoming trip I may take. This will be around an army of smokers and there will be some familiar stress around. This could be a tough one…
Well, that is the full deal. For those of you out there who are quit, remember… if you fail, just quit again. No big deal
– Dharma Voyager