Week 14, Day 1: Drugless

So i'm still lazily working on wrap-ups of shows this week, but today I got started on a week of "natural living" (minus of course the doctor prescribed concentration medication).

Why did I choose this week?

I live relatively healthily (erm), but I could do better. These are my habits at this point in my life:
- nicotine (smoker, 1-4 cigarettes per day, occasionally none)
Began smoking in April 1996. Have gone through many phases as a smoker, beginning with a few cigarettes a day and working up toward nearly a pack a day into college. Quit for basically an entire year from September 2001 to October 2002 (minus one or two). Began smoking again with increasing frequency, going up beyond a pack a day until spring 2004, when I began a gentle decline that continued until to the point where I've basically been for much of the past four years of one to four cigarettes a day (making a point to rarely smoke before the workday is over). Throughout 2007 I cut down to only two or three cigarettes per week, but over past few months that number has gone back up again to "normal" levels. I will attempt to argue to you that I am still "Not Addicted to Smoking" after all these years.

- caffeine (coffee drinker, 1-3 cups per day)
I have been drinking coffee daily since 1995 as a morning ritual. I've never really gone through a period where I "drank coffee all day", though for years in high school and college I would drink multiple evening cups at diners and at home. Since moving to New York in 2004, coffee drinking during the week is roughly confined to a single cup in the morning with maybe another cup during the day. Weekends I have a few more. With coffee, the ritual certainly matters a lot. Right now I am depressed thinking about leaving the house.

- alcohol (1-2 drinks occasionally on weeknights; "going out" on weekends)
I began "drinking" in the same way as most teens--via liquor/beer swiped from parents and friends of parents. I've never been much of a drinker, though since graduating college and moving to New York I've developed steady behavior patterns of drinking beer or wine regularly with dinner and going out on Friday/Saturday night and having a few more drinks, sometimes getting drunk. In the past few months, I feel that both of these behaviors have increased slightly. My main concern with drinking alcohol is simply that it is expensive; a Friday or Saturday night out in New York can empty a wallet. Unlike smoking or coffee, I don't think I'll have any problems/difficulties not drinking alcohol, but it is certainly a little strange to go out in the evenings with friends and realize you may be the only one not drinking.

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We'll see how it all goes. I felt kind of depressed yesterday and maybe that was connected to a lack of caffeine/nicotine (smelling coffee in the morning certainly made me feel shitty), but it might have just been the cold/darkness. I'll certainly be able to test the strength of my nicotine addiction this week at least.

-JB