"What is your best life achievement you can already boast?"
by Thrasymachus,Mar/18/2019(This one is really tough.) So far as Western societal capitalistic achievement goes, I have walked away from it long ago, as from a thumb sucking companion comfort blanket outgrown and no longer missed. Um I guess the things I would name for an answer aren't generally looked at by the general population as life achievements, so I'll say that I am proud of the level to which I have developed my own mind and created my own values. I have learned to think rather than to believe, and have obtained some measure of freedom from what the they "knows" to be the agreed upon goals and boast-worthy achievements.
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This one is indeed tough. I am not much of a boaster, but I think the hardest non-relationship thing I've ever had to do was quit smoking. I smoked from age 13-34; 21 years.
It was one of those situations where I was too clever for my own good in a way because I discovered that I could have free cigarettes any time by taking them out of ashtrays or off the street, squeezing all the tobacco out and either rolling my own cigarettes or using a pipe. Oddly enough, I discovered during this time when I searched online for anyone who may also do this, I found that Einstein also did this which was baffling to me. It wasn't until I decided I wanted to quit that I found out I.. couldn't. The cravings were more than I could manage and because of what I discovered. You really are a slave to those damn things and because I knew how to get free tobacco, I just had to go outside and walk around somewhere to find a few. Couldn't ignore the cravings. Couldn't think of anything else but "I have to get cigarettes" even before I ran out completely. Couldn't enjoy anything until I got some. It really was awful. I've never been addicted to any kind of hard drug, but I think it's probably kind of like that for those who are, too. I gained a new sympathy for addicts from my experience.
I eventually broke down.. cried like a baby. I had reached my breaking point, but I never had another craving after that and haven't had a cigarette since the second Sunday in November of 2014. Never will again. Did it cold turkey with no assists. I'm not minimizing other things, but that really was one of the most difficult things I've ever done, so I guess I'm proud of myself that I did it and have stuck with it.
I will also agree that I also feel pretty good about how I have developed my mind as well. Still so much to learn and explore without enough time to do it all. It's also fun to think, but in the realm of things that currently cannot be known with absolute certainty one way of the other, I believe in some things and not others. All we can really do is guess and I'm not afraid of being wrong. I don't find it appealing to sit around and wait for some expert to tell me it's safe to believe something or have an opinion about something. I want to explore and try to figure things out on my own. It is definitely liberating in a way, so I can relate to what you're saying.
You're pretty cool, Gohan.
Ditto, T-mach. ...sorry, was trying to get out of typing out your whole name. :P
It's Monk, Rob Monk.