I’ve often joked that it took me three weeks to get hooked on smoking and the next nine years to quit. But as toxic as cigarettes are to the body and to those around me, perhaps it’s less a joke and more a sad testament to how strong the addiction to cigarettes can be. During those nine years I went through endless cycles of quitting and starting, each time insisting that this was the final quit, but it wasn’t until several years ago that I finally gave up smoking for good.

Different methods work for different people, and I’ve tried them all: The patch, the gum, cutting down on the number of cigarettes over time. All of the methods had varying success in the short term, but the only method that worked to help me quit smoking in the long term was abstinence–that is, “cold turkey.” I’m the living proof that you can quit smoking for good. All it takes is the kind of dedication that says “no” no matter what excuse or deal your head conjures up to justify a short-term reward.

How I Quit Smoking: Cold Turkey

People who don’t understand how hard it can be for habitual smokers to quit laugh when I tell them that cold turkey for me was not unlike the infamous withdrawal scene from the movie Trainspotting when one of the characters locks himself in a room to overcome his heroin addiction. While I’m trying to make a little light of the situation (I didn’t actually lock myself in a room for several days), I did experience sweats, tearful depression and was irritable when quitting smoking.

Three or four days in I experienced a pleasant but frustrating observation: My body felt physically healthier, but my mind was still feeling the angst of withdrawal. This split sensation only increased in the coming weeks, and by about the one-month mark I made a startling realization: Most cigarette addiction affects the mind, more specifically, the neurotransmitters in the mind, and that’s why it’s harder to quit the longer you’ve been smoking. Patterns in the mind are hard to break. Having smoked off and on for nine years was making it harder on me.

The biggest challenge in quitting smoking came when I met up with friends who still smoked or attended social events that I previously associated with smoking. It was really hard to say no. In fact, there were times I didn’t, and I had to start all over again. While it feels like a small feat to quit smoking for a short stretch of time–days, weeks, or even months–the true test of whether you’ve quit for good is whether you can say no to smoking when the physical craving is not that overwhelming, such as at a party or other social gathering, or when you’re in the presence of another smoker. If you can abstain even then, you’ve “stayed quit.” If you haven’t, you’re still a smoker.

“Social smoking” is a euphemism much like “friendly fire” and “rightsizing” (e.g., layoffs for downsizing in companies), so don’t kid yourself. Sure, there are people who say, “I’m a social smoker; I can start and stop whenever I want,” and if it’s true, they have a type of body chemistry that quickly overcomes withdrawal. You, however, do not. Quitting for several weeks or months shows perseverance, but it doesn’t change your body’s rapid addition to cigarettes. You will never go from being a habitual smoker to a “social smoker” without having to face the awful withdrawal symptoms over again–why make it harder on yourself?

Each social slip-up I had, I suffered withdrawal. Even if it was only for a day or two or a week where I felt more “emotional” and ate more, it was too long. A few slip-ups later, I realized I had to make a choice: To quit or kid myself I’m not a “true smoker,” while I continue to cycle through slip-ups and withdrawal.

It helped to have a close friend to talk to who was not a smoker. For me it was my amazing boyfriend who really stood by me. He was the first to really open my eyes to how gross and bad smoking really was. When in social situations where I could slip up, he reminded me to ask myself what I really wanted and that there were consequences for my actions. Over time, I could remind myself on my own, and I’m happy to say that I am no longer tempted in social situations and laugh when I find myself annoyed at other people’s smoke in public. It truly grosses me out, and I never thought I’d say that. I guess I’m a “true non-smoker” now, and it feels great.

The benefits of not smoking are amazing: No coughs, no bad breath, no dry skin, no nicotine fingers, no cigarette smell on clothing and hair, and best of all, you can smell and taste everything so much better. One word of caution, though: Since it’s thought that cigarettes affect serotonin in the brain, your appetite may increase when you quit. As someone who let myself eat whatever I wanted, I caution you to try exercise and better nutrition instead. I gained a lot of weight after quitting, and did not realize that I was, in a sense, trading off nicotine for sugar. All in all, a little extra weight can be easily taken off, whereas the effects of smoking on the body can be permanent. All bad habits, whether smoking or overeating, come with a price. Healthy habits are much better choices.

Things to watch out for

-Headaches, irritability, depression or increased emotions, tiredness.

-Sugar cravings.

-Wanting to smoke after seeing other people smoke or hanging out with people with whom you’ve smoked in the past or in locations where you’ve enjoyed smoking before.

-Seeing people smoke in movies.

Things that can help

-Let yourself sleep as long as you can. Go to bed earlier, and take naps if your schedule permits. I slept for almost 10 hours every night for the first few weeks, and even more on the weekends.

-Drink lots of water, and eat properly to help calm the nervous system down. I found that chamomile tea and fruits and vegetables worked wonders. The liver’s job is to break down toxicity in the body, so be kind and eat well.

-Exercise; even walking can help your outlook and nervous system a great deal. Since exercise increases “feel-good” endorphins in the body (some of which may be triggered when smoking), it will lessen withdrawal symptoms.

-Cut out complementary items you associate with smoking, such as coffee or alcohol–just until you’ve gotten over the physical addiction hump of about one month. Vaping is also something that you may or may not consider. Some say it is a good alternative but there is no general study claiming that it is really effective. Hence, make sure to conduct your own research.

-Temporarily hang out with other friends until you are able to see them without slipping up, or avoid certain recreational locations that you associate with smoking, such as certain bars or restaurants.

-Enlist a buddy to help keep you on track, and let any friends or colleagues know of your plight. Support is a wonderful thing! Stay away from other smokers who try to get you to smoke again. They just want the company.

Good luck, and remember: You can do it!

The current situation throughout the world is an atmosphere of panic and tension, given the corona virus outbreak and the way news channels are propagating fake news is and creating fear mongering among the general public is disgusting to say the least.

The citizens have been confined to their house since the past few weeks and can move out only to buy food and other basic essentials for the house otherwise it is a complete lockdown everywhere.

In such circumstances, there is little that anyone can do except sit at home and simply bide their time but in a fruitful way. This is the perfect opportunity to bring out your other talents lying dormant inside you.

The most essential thing to do in the present situation is to maintain social distance from outsiders and keep your surroundings clean. Why not begin with your own house? It is a good place to start.

As the old saying goes that charity begins from home and the lawn and garden outside is dirty so you can begin by clearing up all the mess in the place and keep it neat and clean.

Lawn Mower

The most important things that you would need are tools such as shovel, pick, garden knife and water. You can begin by first cleaning the garden and then water the plants one by one.

But due to so many days of gross negligence, the lawn has overgrown with grass so it would require cultivation to make it neat and worthy to look at. Therefore, you can use the lawn mower and cut off all the unnecessary grass that acts as the discordant note in the musical harmony.

If they are too rough and harsh, then you can use the zero turn mower to do the honors and it will fix things quicker than a regular lawn mower but first let’s get to know a little about it.

It is basically a lawn mower of standard size with a turning radius, which means that it is capable of taking the smallest circular term in the shortest possible time in comparison to other lawn mowers.

Origin

Its history dates back to the 1940s when the first zero lawn mower was invented to use by Max Roper, who was so impressed with its speed and technique that he nicknamed it as ‘Ride King’.

It was a three wheeled machine when it first came out and had two drivers to manage it properly, one each at the front and back, and in the initial stages it was quite successful after a few test runs.

Realizing the efficacy of his invention, Roper quickly patented the design and model so that no one could steal his work and one unique feature that it had was the front wheel was used for driving and had the capacity of turning at a full 360 degrees without doing any damage.

This mower is perfect for lawn maintenance that can be utilized for both personal and professional uses but at first glance, it gives the impression of a bumper car found in amusement parks.

An interesting fact about zero lawn mowers is that unlike regular vehicles, the engine is located at the backend of each model.

Description

Unlike other lawn mowers, a zero model has two levers on either ends instead of a steering wheel and it is their job to control the motors that power up the engine and it is this facet that allows the vehicle to maneuver around the field at greater speed that finishes the task quickly.

Due to the advanced technique that these mowers possess, people are gradually shifting towards zero lawn mowers at a quicker pace than perhaps the mowers themselves.

You can look up the zero turn mowers reviews online and decide which model to buy but given below are certain reasons on why to do so:

1. Advanced maneuvering- Due to the speed, the machine can maneuver itself by the levers without the need of any person to do it as the rear wheel can move in any direction
2. Its efficiency is topnotch as they have a horsepower of 6-50 HP which would even put real horses to shame
3. It is highly versatile as it can also spread seeds on the ground and has sprayers for the crops

Ordinarily, tutoring is pretty dry business. The tutee and I are quite absorbed in the process, so I would never say it’s boring, but as a rule, we are concerned with making sure the student’s work comes somewhere in the neighborhood of satisfying the instructor’s requirements. We consider such things as whether or not there’s a thesis, a body (with several pertinent paragraphs containing details analyzed and contextualized in a way that reveals critical thinking by the student), and a satisfactory conclusion. 

We don’t need happy endings, just endings that relate to the introduction in some comprehensible way. When we’re dealing with papers for English classes, the topics tend to be a little on the academic side. The focus is on the mechanics of the work; amusing or interesting content is considered a bonus. All this can be a little intimidating to some people and which is why it can be a little difficult for them to cope up with their teaching schedule. This is the reason why you would not see that many tutor or tuition jobs out there. 

However, last week, Wednesday morning I believe it was, a young woman who came in with an essay for her sociology class. We’ve seen quite a few from this class lately: papers detailing the students’ experiments with breaking social norms. They write a little introduction explaining which norm they decided to break, a few paragraphs about the actual experiment, and a nice little conclusion telling the reader what they’ve learned, not only about themselves but about the people they’ve exposed themselves to.

I’ve seen papers from students who have, for instance, held hands with others of the same gender in public, interrupted people “working” on their laptops in coffee shops, cut into line in the market, and that sort of thing. But in this case, the student, who was attractive enough to provoke a second or even a third look, (or, better yet, a discrete glance, if one passed her on the street) decided to test the social norm which requires appropriate attire in the workplace. She works in a state office, a place thick with lawyers, litigants, and parties concerned with the proper and efficient administration of justice.

Her experiment consisted of dressing as if she was going out to a nightclub: low-cut blouse (in her case, nearly impossible to overlook), short skirt, high heels, the works. Then, to sweeten the deal, she determined to overload herself with burdens, pushing a cart full of books, folders and papers, and carrying in her arms a load of more of the same. As a finishing touch, she pulled her panties down. I couldn’t bring myself to ask exactly how far down these delicacies were placed, but I think it’s safe to assume that they were visible. Since she’s not only attractive but tall, this meant that she was struggling down corridors on long, well-tapered legs, with her underwear somewhere in the vicinity of half-mast, highly visible, and, as it turned out, low enough to constitute an attractive nuisance, but high enough that she was able to walk.

As I read her paper, which was quite well-written and contained much relevant detail, I began to feel the need for either a nice glass of water or, perhaps, a cold shower.

But it really got interesting when she started to explain the reactions people had to her behavior. The women were either sympathetic, offering to help by relieving her of her armload of documents long enough to make the critical sartorial adjustments, or snarky, offering trenchant observations along the lines of: “It looks like you dropped your panties, girl,” or sarcastic but ostensibly helpful advice, such as, “You better pull up your drawers.”

But the men, good solid professional types, were another matter. She had expected that they would reach for her documents, offering her the chance to regain some dignity by pulling her own panties up. But, in a development I consider remarkable, they all reacted by reaching for her panties, helpfully pulling them up for her. It wasn’t just one or two perverts, but closer to 30 men, each of them apparently unable to resist her state of vulnerability.

Reading the paper, I was dumbfounded. I tried to imagine what I would have done. Obviously, I would have wanted to cop the quick feel in the name of good samaritans, but private space is private space. So I like to think I would have done the polite, rather than the expedient thing. Just because I might have wanted to get a grip on her underwear, (and, in the process, on the parts of her body the garment is meant to conceal), it obviously wouldn’t have been the right thing to do.

The conclusion to her paper was the rather obvious one: when a woman dresses seductively, she is asking for, or at least subliminally inviting, contact on a level that would ordinarily be considered out of bounds between strangers. Maybe she doesn’t mean to send that message, but it’s the one that men receive. She, and most of the women I know, and I myself, fully believe that a woman should have the implicit right to dress as she pleases without fear that men will interpret a scanty costume as an invitation to unwanted sexual contact.

But I have to consider my reaction to reading about this activity. Just the thought of her wobbling down the hallowed corridors of state business with her boobs peeking out above and her panties winking from below gave me something to think about for the rest of the day. It got my imagination going. But I’d like to think the veneer of civilization, the same social contract that prevents open warfare during the evening commute, is strong enough to ensure that we all respect one another’s personal boundaries.

Much as I might like to grab the opportunity to help a young lady up with her panties, the proper response is obviously to offer to help only by relieving her of the burden in such a way that she can pull up her own panties.

So gentlemen, be advised. When you find yourself in a situation that looks too good to be true, it probably is. Be a gentleman, not a lower primate, and act accordingly. If you can’t manage that, be warned. Unwanted sexual contact is not just impolite, it’s a crime, and rightfully so. Put yourself in her place. But keep your hands to yourself.