Cigar Lifestyle: 2020 Resolutions, Resa-Lies, Still Puffin And Alive! – By Mike Holmes

Happy New Year to everyone reading my first article of the year and the new decade! This time of the year people tend to be hyped up about “What is to come” in the new year. Resolutions are made only to be broken a couple months later. The resolutions turn into lies and then you spend the rest of the year mad at yourself and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps!

I decided that this year I am not going to lie to myself and make all of these false promises only to leave myself stressed and depressed. Just because I decided to do away with resolutions, doesn’t mean I don’t have enthusiasm for the new year. This year I have set goals for myself which I will not be publicly sharing. What I will share, is my firm belief in getting back up when falling off the horse.

Ever since I started my first phase of adulthood, life hasn’t been easy for me. Growing up, I was diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) which was the cause of a lot of problems in school, due to not being able to concentrate. Like most kids of my generation diagnosed with ADD, I also used medication, mostly Ritalin, to treat my disorder. Later on, these medications gave me too many problems. I had to stop and just fight and struggle through school while doing the best that I could.

Despite how hard school was for me growing up, despite growing up feeling like I did not matter, and having a low self esteem, I recently realized something. I made it! I really made it! Though I made it through school, adulthood has particularly been a challenge for me. I never learned how to function as an adult with ADD. The reality I face is this, there is no problem with me whatsoever.

However, someone with an ADD brain, functions differently than others. As someone with ADD, I never learned how to adequately use my strengths; so the first half of my adult life has been a train wreck at times. It takes me twice as long to do something that an average person achieved years ago! ADD makes me into a disorganized person, particularly when dealing with my finances and areas of everyday life discipline. Throughout my life I never really set goals, and if I did, I did not try to achieve them regularly. Not to say I haven’t been ambitious, but I never learned how to function in those areas.

So starting in this new decade, I am not going to lie to myself, nor am I going to set myself up for failure by making resolutions that I know I won’t keep. Instead I have written down some doable goals and have set my mind to step out this year to achieve them. One of the top goals is to see a professional counselor, so that I can discuss the problems that have held me back for years and begin to gain some life skills that will help me function better in life.

As the second phase of adulthood is here, I am hopeful for the future as I work on myself so that I can achieve my dream of working in the Cigar industry full time. At this point you might be asking yourself, “Mike, why are you sharing all this and what’s the point?”

Well my point is simple. In making myself vulnerable, maybe I can help someone else who feels they are without a voice. There are many voiceless people and I know exactly how they feel. I will try to acknowledge those who don’t have a voice, so I can give them the strength to rise above whatever their situation has thrown at them. I will do this because I have been there and I am still digging my way out.

Everything that I do, is to bring positive energy to the forefront and put a smile on someone’s face. I try to give them hope, so they too can rise above their situation no matter how long it takes! With great hope for the start of a new decade, I will forget about the Resolutions, and the Resa-lies and instead, think back to what I learned in the past and how I will move forward into the future.

My very first decade as a cigar enthusiast has been amazing! I got my start, developed my pallet, began to be a voice in the cigar community – all in one decade. During this next decade, I hope to expand my reach worldwide and continue to meet with brothers and sisters of the leaf from all walks of life, as I have done in the previous decade. Whatever this past decade has brought you, be it great success or filled with struggles and tragedy, if you are living and breathing today – you made it! If you can roll out of bed every morning, go about your day, and end it enjoying your favorite cigar, then I would say life is pretty good!

I think it is safe to say that most of us are entering this New Year with enthusiasm and hope. If you aren’t, only you have the power to change your circumstances. This is my new Mantra for the new decade. I spent way too many years complaining about the way my life is going instead of getting up off my ass to make something happen, so it is only right to correct where I wronged myself and vow to do better. I want to thank all of my loyal readers here at Stogie Press who read and comment on my writings, every single month! If it weren’t for you, I would just be some crazy, rambling, shirtless guy ! From the bottom of my heart I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and an amazing 2020!