Blog Archives
One mom’s advice for helping kids develop good study habits – Omaha.com: Momaha.com
When your teen is a Freshman in high school, you nervously hope you’ve taught them well up until this point.
Thankfully, it seems my daughter has taken along a few good study habits – several of which I should probably take note of – and uses them daily.
Do your kids have any good study habits? Feel free to pass them along!
I’m a Quitter
It’s been two years. A very long two years, most days. Other days, I remember like it was yesterday.
Two years ago, yesterday, I began my journey of becoming an ex-smoker. It was a difficult road, and one that, at the time, I wasn’t even convinced I wanted to begin. At the same time, part of me couldn’t help but be disgusted with the habit upon which I’d become so dependent. I started with Chantix. My sister had quit smoking via this method, and so had several other people I had known. I figured it was worth a shot. One week later though, I was sick of trying to remember to take the medicine regularly, so I gave it up.
The medicine, that is.
Thankfully, the lack of success I encountered with the medication didn’t stop me from pressing on, but that isn’t to say I wasn’t faced with some struggles along the way.
The first six months were definitely the hardest; by that I mean, I wasn’t exactly strict non-smoker during that time. Try as I might, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I would be lost without the habit, regardless of how disgusting or harmful it was to my health. There were so many points in my life I couldn’t remember doing without a cigarette. I felt it would be impossible to change. So, I continued; just not with the same fervor as I had in the past. It became more sporadic. I tried limiting it to the times when I went out with my friends, but then, I started looking for ways to justify why it wasn’t a big deal until I realized it wasn’t going to lead me to anywhere promising. In fact, it was going to lead me right back to where I started, and I knew I didn’t want that. Though I wasn’t doing as well as I had hoped, I wasn’t smoking nearly as much as I had been prior to beginning this journey. I had made some progress, and I had no intentions of backtracking.
Come November of that year, I had started to slow down again to the point where I was smoking only a few every weekend. I was hanging onto that last piece of thread, not quite willing to let go of the past. But I did, and I haven’t looked back since.
Looking back, my years as a smoker seem but a distant memory. I hardly remember starting let alone what it was like to be so dependent on such a thankless habit. Breathing is easier, and for once, I can keep up with my children. Life is much better on the other side, and I’m happy to say I’m a quitter.
It's time to spread my wings and fly... 