Welcome to the Moth Podcast.
I'm Michelle Jalowski.
It may be a new year, but I've got pretty much the same resolutions.
I'm going to start reading a book every week.
I'm going to take more walks.
I'm finally going to find a way to keep that Trader Joe's orchid alive for more than a month.
Check back with me in March to see how I did.
But sometimes the best thing you can do isn't to start something new.
It's to think about your old habits that you don't love the things and ideas that aren't serving you and decide to leave them behind.
On this episode, we've got two stories about the good that can sometimes come from quitting.
First up is Ian Stewart, who told this at a mock story slam in Portland.
Here's Ian live at the Mop.
I remember my first cigarette almost as well as I remember my last.
My first one.
It was all love and honey.
It tasted good.
It felt good on my lips.
It melted my brain like chocolate under a hot marshmallow.
Last one, not so much.
It was one of those random summertime hailstorms and I was huddled underneath this little overhang, smoking it with abandon.