I never smoked inside my house. I always stepped outside, onto the right half of my deck, where I have this wooden garden rack thingy. A flower pot full of kitty litter once served as my ashtray, and a lidded box kept my cigarettes and lighter dry.
When preparing for my quit, I knew I had to repurpose and re-imagine this area. To erase all signs of its former purpose. To reclaim my deck as a free space, because I was not going to live in dread of going out back again.
Below are some pictures of what I did, and it only took 164 days to share them here. Hahaha!
I bought three big, bushy ferns. I hung two of them from the awning, pretty much at eye level. The other I tucked down at the bottom of the rack.
I emptied out my flower pot ashtray (bottom shelf, center), scrubbed it clean, filled it with potting soil, and planted stargazer lilies. To the right of that is a little terra cotta pot and some marigold seeds. To the left of the repurposed ashtray is this whimsical bunny sculpture my mom gave me. (It’s cute, so why not?) And the rest of the bottom shelf holds seashells and a sand dollar I handpicked from Edisto Island.
On the top shelf is a bird feeder with painted glass panels. (It’s usually hanging, but I moved it for the picture.) There’s also a decorative garden stone with my surname initial on it, and a watering can for the plants.
Now, in the middle of the top shelf is my pride and joy: It’s a dish “terrarium” full of the interesting rocks and stones and pebbles that I have gathered from every nature walk, hike, and kayaking trip since I quit smoking. It’s an ongoing record, in stone (actual milestones!), of the steps to freedom I have taken thus far. It’s my “Rock (That Quit) Garden”, and it’ll continue to grow. (“We’re gonna need a bigger dish!”)
Ready for a surprise? At night, the fern at the bottom “lights up”! I have a strand of lights nestled behind the pot and under the fronds!
So, there it is: My “smoking section“, reclaimed! Green life and little treasures where there once was just sooty shame and dirty addiction. And there’s plenty more room there to add new reminders that smoking is gone and over with here.
STORM: 164
You know, you can do this, too. Erase your “smoking section”, whether you have yet to quit, are figuring out how to bolster a wobbly quit, or have already been quit for awhile. All it really takes is about $10 or so at Goodwill or the dollar store, and a search around your attic or storage closet could turn up meaningful little things to add. You can re-imagine your former smoking space, too, in any way you like, be it indoors or outside. (And, honestly, I’d love to hear about it or see pictures.)
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