When change becomes the norm

Today commemorates 9-years having decided to quit smoking and inadvertently stop drinking in the process. And funnily enough, I almost forgot about it.

I remember when I first started this crazy experiment that I would feel so accomplished and proud of myself for smaller increments of time.

“Yay, I made it a week!”

“I can’t believe it’s been a whole month!”

“Has it been a year already?!”

And now, here I am celebrating 9-years of a life changing event and I almost didn’t even remember! How on earth could I forget something that so irrevocably altered the very fabric of my existence?!

Okay, well maybe it hasn’t been THAT dramatic of a change. Or has it? As I look back at the last almost-decade of my life and take stock of the changes and accomplishments and adventures that have happened to me, I know that things wouldn’t be the same as they are now had I not put down the cigarette or kept imbibing.

But that’s what always happens when you make you a change. When you step outside of your comfort zone and decide that you don’t want to do what you’ve been doing. Whether that be because you’re no longer inspired with current surroundings, or fed up with a situation that is no longer tenable, or thrown into something new by forces out of your control – change can be a refreshing boost to your perspective and outlook.

Enough time has passed where the changes I made no longer feel like a new or different life. It’s just regular. It’s just life. I’ve adjusted and quite enjoy it. But people ask me (yes STILL, even after nine years) whether I will ever drink again. And though I find that question annoying and boring, I can usually summon up enough gusto to try to happily answer without rolling my eyes. It’s always the same answer:

“No, I do not see myself ever drinking again. I ran around NYC and drank for fifteen years and had my fair share of that life. Plus, the scant few times I tried out a drink after my initial 1-year-and-a-few-months-completely-drink-free, it made me feel sick, and why poison my body like that when I’m perfectly fine without it?”

So somehow I inadvertently became a poster child for not drinking, which is something I NEVER thought would happen. The me of my 20s & early 30s would never be friends with the me of now. But that’s okay because if the me of now ever met the me of before, he would most definitely slap him for being so drunk and obnoxious.

And I try to never make these blog posts preachy. That’s never been my intention. If you enjoy smoking and drinking then great! I’m not here to tell you to stop. It wasn’t working for me so I made a change to see how it would feel and it ended up feeling pretty darn amazing so I kept it up and now it’s just how life is.

However, if you find that you’re no longer excited by your life, or you can no longer tolerate a current situation, or you had the rug pulled out from underneath you when you weren’t looking and you’ve been thrown into the “new,” then EMBRACE THE CHANGE. Yes change is scary and hard and uncomfortable and inconvenient, but it’s also exciting and nuanced and empowering. And then eventually just normal.

So go out and make a change. Make a change that might profoundly affect your life and become so ordinary and normal and regular that one day, in the not-too-distant future, you might barely remember to celebrate it.