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Day 20 of the Obama
Day 5 As a Non-Smoker
I quit smoking last week…again. In fact, quitting smoking is something I’m actually pretty good at. Avoiding the temptation to believe I have it licked, even after several years, is what I have yet to master, so here I go once more where I have certainly gone before. However I am employing a couple of different tactics this time around and I’m hopeful that this will be the last time I go through the hell of withdrawal from my nicotine addiction. After having had success with both acupuncture, (twice) and laser therapy (very cool), I have opted for ‘cold turkey’ as my method of choice this time around. Also different this time is my decision to be very public about quitting. On Wednesday, which was “Day One”, I posted on Twitter my intention to smoke no more. It is important to me to note here that the flood of support and encouragement I have received from the Twitter community has been quite overwhelming and enormously encouraging. Non-smokers, ex-smokers, fellow quitters, as well as those who know not the pains of the addiction but just want to see me succeed, have all sent messages cheering me on. God Bless You! I want you all to know that I am doing my absolute damndest to avoid disappointing any of us. There is something to be said for the idea of being held publicly accountable.
Accountability is of course, a two way street and it seems to be an increasingly more hazardous road to travel for those with a public profile. Just ask Michael Phelps and Christian Bale who both seem to have had the kind of week last week, of which Dante would be proud. You see, Americans love the win. We see ourselves as winners and as such, we are failure adverse. There are few things that ignite the negative passions of the American public as much as when our winners disappoint us. We seem to have a somewhat schizophrenic, love/loathe relationship with celebrity in American culture. As much as we love seeing someone rise from relative obscurity to conquer the heights of achievement, we also seem to relish it with equal zeal when our heroes stumble or fall. Stumbling and falling are after all, the most human of human traits, but after investing so much of our energy and goodwill in the celebration of our heroes, we hardly have the patience for them to demonstrate human frailties. Although F Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “There are no second acts in American lives”, I’m not so sure I agree. If there is anything we love more than a winner in this country, it’s a winner who has failed epically and has dared to rise yet again. Just ask NBA MVP, Kobe Bryant or Oscar nominee, Mickey Rourke. We are suckers for the “comeback” in this country.
I work hard at having a balanced relationship with my fame. I was all of 19 when I did ROOTS and will be turning 52 in a matter of days. What that means to me is I have spent most of my life in the public eye. Over the past 30 plus years I have survived the full range of intensity of the light of fame, from white hot to cool blue and all of the degrees in between. At the same time I still see myself as the guy I was before all of this happened in my life. To this day it trips me out that I was such a HUGE fan of the original Star Trek series and today I am a part of that history. Getting to meet and then getting to know Gene Roddenberry was a dream come true. He was a hero of mine, this amazing visionary who had created a future realm that I wanted to help birth into being. It was however, confusing to me and disappointing to discover that this “great man” was also human. Ultimately, and this revelation has only come in the past few years, I have come to really appreciate those parts of Gene I couldn’t reconcile when I was a younger man. Those parts that he himself had already embraced and made peace with. Since then I have tried to be more forgiving where my heroes are concerned.
On the smoking front, one valuable piece of advice I received last week was about the potential for relapse in quitting an addiction as insidious as that of nicotine. I was counseled (should I succumb) to not see it as a failure, but as a part of the process and get back on path of commitment immediately. The message I took away was to not be too hard on myself. Sage advice indeed! As a general rule I am trying to be less judgmental of everyone in my life, including me.
It was legendary coach, Vince Lombardi who said, “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” I’ve come to believe there are exceptions to every rule. Just ask all those folks who have quit or are quitting smoking…and all of their loved ones who celebrate that heroic effort. However should any of us fail, it’s nice to know that redemption is just around the corner because a part of being human is being on the comeback trail.
…I’ll see you next time… but, you don’t have to take my word for it.
LeVar
PEACE
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