Happy New Year Steemians! What is your new years resolution?

You know you're a Steemian when you pause to think about what your voting power is at before clicking the like button on one of your other social media feeds.

I wanted to wish everyone a happy new year! 2018 will be a great year for crypto especially Steemit, as was 2017. We have much gains to witness.

I also want to invite you to follow @honeybadger-1, a good friend of mine! He has made his first introduction post already and just started on the platform on new years eve! After preaching crypto since late 2013 I finally got him into the crypto scene. He is as excited as I am to share some adventures and creativity with the Steemit community.

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So what is your new years resolution?

My new years resolution this year is to quit smoking cigarettes. Cigarette addiction has been a part of my life since around 2005 and this year, I am kicking that habit. It's time to lead a healthier life. Back in August I attempted to quit but it was short lived. Stressful times caused me to get sucked back in. I must have not been ready to quit. I have decided to quit cold turkey. I will have to change my routine a lot as I have gotten up a few times to have a cigarette already, only to stop myself.

This is going to be one of the hardest things to do as I have already succumbed to about 4 drags of a cigarette within the first 7 hours of the year. That's right. There's no use in lying about it, as I'd only be lying to myself. However; I truly feel that I am done since I have tried this before.

I noticed the last time I tried to quit the house was cleaner. That's because every time I got up to have a cigarette I cleaned or worked out instead. Working out is a great way to even kill depression so I was certainly feeling better. I noticed that I smoke a lot to suppress hunger and a great method I tried back in august was to have a snack instead of a cigarette. While this could make me gain weight I still plan on being active so I should be okay. I regret jumping back on the cigarettes, but this is my year. I am taking back my health and my lungs and I won't pollute my lungs anymore because I am now a non-smoker. I will certainly keep you all up to date and hopefully I don't break my resolution even though I already have but it was shortly after new years. I called it my last few drags and I didnt even finish the cigarette so I am excited to finally be done with this nasty addiction. My hope is to follow through with this simply because I wrote it here. Let us hope that it lasts and I'm not making a post in a few hours explaining how I smoked another cigarette. For someone that smoked typically 4-6 cigarettes in a 6 hour time frame, 4 drags is quite the change and I have been weaning myself off for the last week or two, so I think I've had plenty of time to prepare myself.

Tonight, my friend @logicluke really made me laugh. (Another friend I recently recruited to Steemit! He hasn't made a first post yet, but if you want to follow him too, feel free!)

He said that he has followed through with his new years resolution for the last 7 years. This man has been able to keep his new years resolution since 2010! I was pretty amazed by this. Then he told me that his new years resolution back in 2010 was to not have any more new years resolutions. This effectively allowed him to forever uphold to his new years resolution!

I died. I have to say, this is a great new years resolution to have, especially if you haven't made one yet. I know that by the power of Jesus I will no longer smoke cigarettes, so next year I am aiming for that as my new years resolution because quite honestly, I wouldn't mind being done with them. I can make daily resolutions as I see fit to better my life and I really don't need a new year to validate these changes! :P

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Reflecting on 2017 and prior.

It's been quite a year and I feel that 2017 kicked my ass. A lot of stress and a lot of struggle while I continue to build my business (I drive drunken patrons home from the bars in their vehicle). As I watched crypto skyrocket throughout the year my "FOMO" kicked in pretty hard but I prayed about it and realized it just wasn't my time. I needed to get a few more ducks in order before I could really jump back into the crypto scene. While not all my ducks are lined up just yet I was at a point in time where I was spending a lot of time playing video games even though I knew about the goldmine that is crypto. It was time to "grow up" a little, and then I found Steemit. While my wife works a lot and I run my night business I usually take the role of 'stay at home dad' during the day. This caused me to waste a lot of time gaming out of boredom. Thanks to this platform I am challenged again and found a better purpose for my life.

One of the things that made me kick the gaming habit was the boom of Survival games and spending 120 days without electricity due to financial hardships a whole summer. I had to go into real life survival mode at the snap of a finger and I have to say it was one of the toughest and best experiences I ever had. It helped me reconnect with myself, my spirituality and nature. I always enjoyed taking pictures during my adventures but I always lacked the hardware to properly document them and I also didn't really have much incentive to share it because I wanted to engage and other social media platforms aren't very engaging.

Still enjoy playing video games with my kid though, just gotta teach her moderation now! :)

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Moving Forward

2018 is going to be my year. I'm going to reel 2018 in, gut it, fillet and cook it on my grill. I'm fishing for a good year indeed. I am not going to stand on the sidelines any more and I realize in order to get what I want I have to get out there and take it. Follow me on my adventures through a smoke-free life moving forward! I am really excited to clean up my lungs. If you're on Steemit, it'll be your year too! I was checking out account values and according to the ranks I'd say jumping to $200 value in my first month is pretty impressive. So far the results have been very positive and I never imagined my thoughts could generate me some income.

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If you are a smoker, you should quit too! Don't let it hold you back, break free from addiction. If you are addicted to anything there are people everywhere that can help you, including here on Steemit! Just check out @liverehab (I'm totally plugging you!) There is more help, encouragement, motivation and inspiration out there than you may think.

My wife left me this cigarette "just in case." This is what I think about it. Next step is to get her to quit too.

In Jesus name I pray that I be given the strength to not pick up one of those cancer sticks. Hopefully I do not have to comment on this post that I broke my resolution! I must not, I will not, for I am not a smoker.

With at least 2 recruits to the platform under my belt already, I hope to bring a lot more! Be sure to follow and check my blog for previous posts!

Upvote & Resteem if you enjoyed this post!

I love you all for making this place what it is.

God bless, take care and happy new year to all!

@bitfiend

24 hour Update

It's been more than 24 hours since my last puff of a cigarette and so far am upholding my resolution! The first few hours weren't easy and I did end up sleeping a bit I am determined to stay off the nicotine!

Day 4 update

On Day 1 I had four puffs, on Day 2 I had two puffs. Day three I had zero! So here I am on day four with zero cigarettes and it's been well over 24 hours since I've had a cigarette. I am getting urges but I am holding back!