Low Energy Mode

 

I am not sure if it is because it is Friday, or because we are in the midst of the coldest/driest few days we have had all Winter thus far, but I feel awfully damn lethargic, sleepy, and unfocused.  I am tending to lean towards it being such an abrupt change in temperature and humidity.  The last three days have been about 20 degrees cooler than what we have been experiencing this Winter and it is a very, very dry cold.  

Now, that said, this is still a pretty damn mild Winter here so far.  At this time of the year, we CAN reasonably expect at least some days where the low temperature is perhaps sinking to around -25 F ( ~ -30 C).  It is no where near that cold right now.  But, I do know how my body tends to respond.  If there is an abrupt temperature change downward, I often feel exhausted through a period of acclimation.  The other direction (an abrupt change in warmth) is typically easier to deal with, although I do know I tend to feel more tired in that scenario as well.  

Running on the treadmill is getting really old too.  :)  I am still right on track to finish my minimum of 52 miles (~84 km) this week, but it has felt more like a chore.  In my peek ahead to the weather next week (Weather Channel app)... there seems to be 2, possibly 3 days next week that will be a few degrees above freezing and little to no precipitation in the foreseeable future!!!  That may mean I can run outside again.... and I will have to plan to try to put in extra miles on those days so less has to be on the damn treadmill.  :)

In my contemplation of returning to my pipes, there are a wide array of different ideas I have percolating around in my neurons.  With my being pretty close to hitting a full three years of not indulging in my pipes, I guess it would be logical to at least work through my future game plan in the interim.  February 14th 2021 will be my date for having reached three full years of not participating in the pipe tobacco hobby.  So, I am going to take the next 2+ weeks to explore in a deeper way where I want to go from there.  I may be able to reach a definitive plan by then or perhaps not.  I am not sure.  

I will conclude with just a quick list of random thoughts I have been having.  These are quick "bites" of ideas I may want to expand upon in the next few weeks:

*  Three years is a LONG time to have gone without my pipes.  

*  If I were to return to the hobby, would it be worth it to only do so, say once every two weeks?  I think about this with the idea that *probably* one pipe every two weeks would not be a harm physically.  

*  But, would it be more "work" or perhaps more "aggravation" to adopt a once every two week approach?  In some ways I think it may be harder waiting those intervals than going all in, back to the hobby or staying away.  

*  I sometimes, in my worry about damnable Covid-19, imagine how horrible it would be to be one of the Covid-19 people who does die from the virus.  And, even though it is stupid to think this way, I sometimes have the thought that if I got the virus and it ultimately killed me, I would be so very angry about dying of course, but also angry about the waste of time the three years of abstaining from my pipes would ultimately be in that situation.  

* I believe that physically it has been a benefit to refrain.  In the same vein I think I would accrue the same benefit (at least ~95% of the physical benefit) if I went back with only a once every two weeks pattern.  But, from an emotional/mental health perspective, I am not sure where any of this "benefit" falls.  

* I can say that I do not enjoy being a "lone wolf" pipe smoker.  Pipe smoking is not nearly as enjoyable as it used to be (even though it IS enjoyable) because there are no buddies or friends who share the enjoyment with me anywhere nearby any longer.  I have two old friends from college who still smoke pipes but they are all the way across the country and really are not a viable "buddy" in the way I did relish the socialization aspect of the pursuit most of my life.  

* In the same breath, however... in some ways, I think I should do what I enjoy in life regardless of what others think.  As long as I am considerate and polite, my choices should not be impacted by what others do around me.  

* I need to put down on paper in a detailed way the spiritual advice I received from old Father Keith and Father David.  They both helped me understand my thoughts better when I was contemplating quitting 3-4 years ago.  Their insights I think will be helpful both for a return to the hobby or a continued refrain.  Perhaps writing that down should be a bit priority for me next week.  

* Even though it is impossible, I sometimes do imagine being back 50 years ago in the 60s and 70s, or further still to 100 years ago in the 20s or 150 years ago in the 1860s and 1870s.... all times where the choices and decisions were far simpler.  Hell, I loved everything about pipes back in the 1960s through probably the end of the 1980s.  It wasn't really until perhaps the mid-to-late 1990s that another, negative voice would occasionally creep into my psyche about it... and I could ignore that for the most part for another decade or so.... until the negative voice grew louder and more persistent.

Those are my bullet points of my rambling, scattershot thoughts.  

PipeTobacco