Cause sometimes you need a reminder of how far you’ve come.
Excuse the weird-ass face, and I know it was a bad picture, and I’m not just like, TRYING to emphasize “I was so sad and feeling so terrible then because I was smoking and drinking and eating poorly!!!” because I wasn’t, I felt great… this was one of the only pictures I could find where you could really see how bad my acne had gotten.
When this picture on the left was taken, I was smoking like, a pack a day, sometimes more. I was going out drinking nearly every night. I think at the point this exact picture was taken, I was already ¾ of the way through a bottle of tequila (that I had drank all by myself). That year there was a period where I went through an entire bottle of tequila a week. I was eating out for every meal, and eating delivery on the nights I wasn’t eating out. To be fair, I was in my in-between phase living part-time with my parents (whose kitchen was being renovated) and part-time with my then-gf, full-time out of my car. I was not exercising, save maybe a walk through the woods once every other week. I was sharing a twin-size bed with my then-gf so wasn’t sleeping so well. I smelled from all the smoke and the lack of washing my clothes and self.
But I have to say, I was happy. I had met someone I fell totally in love with, I was out partying with friends constantly and I loved it!!! I still miss that. I was eating foods I loved and not feeling any sort of guilt about it. I was going to a freaking all you can eat pizza buffet twice a week with my best friend, like, how could I not have been stoked??? BURGER KING HAD RELEASED CHEETO FRIED MAC AND CHEESE BITES, IT WAS SO GREAT! Right after that picture was taken, I went and drunk passed out on the lawn and just took a nap right there. (The neighbors actually came over to ask if I was okay….)
But on the right, I’m also happy. I’m just focusing on the things that make me happy that also make me healthy. I can still go get food with my friends twice a week, just maybe the pizza buffet a little less frequently. I can still go out partying with my friends, I’m just drinking diet coke instead of nearly an entire bottle of tequila. I am going bike riding instead of sitting at a bar day-drinking… both activities I love, but one that makes me healthier. I am going to pole during the week instead of getting drunk at a bar…. again, both activities I love, one I think I now enjoy more than the other. I am in three separate plays, and go to rehearsal 2 days a week, soon to be 3, instead of sitting at home on the couch watching Netflix eating a box of pizza rolls after, you guessed it, being at the bar. I am going bouldering with my friends instead of sitting at a restaurant drinking. I just put that exact pullover I’m wearing on the left in a give-away bag. I haven’t called off sick from work for being hungover in two years.
I have quit smoking (IT IS NOT EASY PLEASE DON’T EVER START IT SUCKS SO BAD AND THE WEIRDEST THING IS TO JUST KNOW “OK I’VE GOT THIS NOW I JUST HAVE TO NEVER DO IT AGAIN FOR EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE”), and I have quit drinking, as of two weeks ago. I may bring the drinking back eventually, but I know it’s a problem for me and I know it does nothing but hurt me, so for now, goodbye booze. I am happy, just like I was before, but now I am also healthy. And that’s pretty neat.
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