Only On Day One

this piece was written by a woman who i met online - and was inspired by - when i first quit (her pen name is "rubyread"); it's reposted here with her permission.

So many times people say that they're on day one and it's an understated, quiet, anti-climatic humble statement. They seem almost apologetic to the crowd. They are only on day one, how insignificant.

Well, let me tell you something ... Day one is the most important day of the entire quit! Without Day One, there is no quit!

It's absolutely the MOST important day! And it should be shouted from the rooftops! It should be heralded with trumpets blaring! Day One is cause for greater celebration than Day 100!

Oh, Day 100 is wonderful. Success is stamped all over Day 100, but without Day One, there is no Day 100. Without Day One there is nothing.

So here is to Day One and all those who were brave enough to enter it and embrace it and allow it to be their reality. Congratulations to you for being willing to enter Hell Week!

I see Hell Week as a challenging, long, suffering, miserable week and here these people are ... Ready - Willing - And Able to walk up to it and say "I'm here!"

Without that, you have no quit. Without that willingness to walk up to Hell Week and offer yourself like some sacraficial lamb on a rock slab, you have nothing. You are the bravest of any day, on Day One! You are the most challenged on Day One. That is the hardest day of the entire quit. Because that is the day that you took your whole world and did the impossible. You turned it around 180 degrees! You turned night into day. You made the sun into the moon. You took everything that seemed normal and right and tossed it into the wind and said "give me abnormal and wrong!"

Ever since Day One, I have been inviting abnormal and wrong into my life. And I have never felt so alive in all of my days on this earth.

If I could do it all over again, I would jump into Day One screaming and cheering with banners and ribbons flowing from my arms. And I would wear a big hat that proudly stated "DAY ONE" on it! Because something happened that I never bargained for. Facing the fear and allowing Day One to enter my life was the first of many more wonderful challenges. And it was as if somebody handed me a key (a master key!) and said "Here, this opens more doors, discover yourself!"

Welcome to Hell. It is the most wonderful place! Because past this lies Freedom. I'd walk this walk 100 more times if I had to. It's that beautiful.