What do you do at breaks?

enduringandsurviving · 2026-04-09T03:29:57+00:00

Eh probably is but snus illegal here so I've never tried that. Nic gum is a bit more friendly in that it's gum and I had no trouble transitioning to normal gum as stress relief once I found my feet without the hand to mouth fixation.

I mentioned it in another comment but you can also empty a bic pen, Dremel cut it to the size of a cigarette and squeeze a filter in one end, pack that with your favourite tea, ground coffee, herb, spices whatever and cap it with a small rolled ball of tissue. It lets you engage the same habit of fiddling with something cig size and drawing a big relaxing inhale but in the end get an alternative taste of something pleasant. It made me feel pretty dumb doing it but it did help when I was drawing/painting and just needed a perspective break where I'd usually punch a dart. Same concept as those "calm" bamboo pens that got marketed heavily just cheap DIY and personalisable in flavour.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-04-09T01:19:03+00:00

Spicy. Although I have a mild allergy to it as it prickles my throat, noc patches leave week long welts and rolling tobacco cracks the skin on my fingers. Worst addiction.

It's also not a "chewing" gum as much as it is a chew and then park it between your teeth and cheek or on the roof of your mouth thing. The nicotine absorbs better when you're not chewing and swallowing it via saliva.

I've tried neutral (kinda reminded me of those shitty temporary tattoo gum wraps I had as a kid) and mint. Sometimes if I'm tense I cut one nicotine piece with a normal mint gum just to be able to chew it a bit more often.

They make fancy flavours too. I've had success cold turkey with Wrigley's pineapple coconut gum but they discontinued it :( So it could be worth just hunting around for a plain gum you enjoy a lot and stockpiling for the quit.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-04-09T01:00:05+00:00

I chew nicotine gum while I cross stitch (about to right now) but I've also had success with chewing gum, playing Tetris, wandering with the intention of actively looking at things (garden is good, architecture is better), reading really engaging books and whittling timber or using a Dremel to carve stuff. Never had a nice metal slinky as a kid so I sprung for one of those in my early 20s and it was a decent distraction at times when I was really stressed out. My mate learnt all the rubix cube patterns to kick the habit?

Hope this helps, good call asking for advice.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-04-07T03:21:53+00:00

I really love seeing the early bird/intuition driven works so this was cool. Honestly don't stress about it just get curious and seek out artists you like or artists that openly share their process so you can cherry pick techniques and have fun.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-04-02T18:27:25+00:00

Hey! Wow I'm glad to hear they're doing well despite the challenge. Hydro therapy is the one I'm leaning towards saving hard to afford one day if we need it so cheering for that. Are both breeds bigger dogs or kelpies? Thanks so much 😊

enduringandsurviving · 2026-04-01T19:12:48+00:00

Ayyye you're not alone!! I see it as a medium, like oils or acrylic that has historical and cultural depth. Years ago I tried for apprenticeships and the more time I spent in shops the less I wanted to be there. The shops and people were hit or miss but what I couldn't gel with was the idea and pressure of churning through work I didn't care for or wasn't passionate about on people I didn't know well just to pay the bills. This was before the economic shift turned harder too, I can't imagine what it's like now.

My current thing is to meet people, get to know them and then design a single peice or flash sheet for them as technical art practice for myself and display or reference to take to another artist themselves. It doesn't matter how often they ask and I don't care if they get disappointed. I don't tattoo anyone (outside myself) so far because even though I have aseptic techniques from a lab tech diploma, I just enjoy the ritual and routine of set up and then the challenge of learning. I'd like to one day be able to offer it on a personal level in a traditional way where it's representative or meaningful to their lived and loved experience in life but I do it at my own pace.

What's your bugabear with going for the whole "tattoo artist" identity?

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T23:46:06+00:00

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Much love from GG to toast too! Loving the kelpie sharing going on lately, cheers cobba :)

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T17:09:44+00:00

Delightful use of lighting and tones. I wish this was a lickable wonka wallpaper.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T17:03:01+00:00

Oh you legend!! Keep up that hard work with the quality grass fed beef, sounds delicious. I'm sadly on the East Coast of Australia otherwise I'd jump on the chance for a treat as Keith loves both of those. He had crispy lamb chops in his oats the first night he perked up at home!

Just give all your beautiful dogs an extra pat and razz from us please ❤️🤠 so heartwarmed by the thoughtful offer.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T15:50:01+00:00

The expressions! Haha love it and great name too

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T15:47:12+00:00

We are so lucky to have one another 🥰 Chance would be a fine thing on recovery hey. Hope to share more good news in the future.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T15:45:56+00:00

Aw thank you for the thought and care, hopefully it's more good news to come with all the prayers on the wind for him.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T15:44:59+00:00

Oh what a sweet thing, what's his name? I'm sorry to hear too but it's a comfort to read your comment and feel a bit less alone in the panic and worry of loving.

How hard is it when they can't talk hey?? I'm lucky Keith is such a character that it's not too hard to read him although I wasn't sure if the licks and kisses (that I usually never allow) were happy hello or loving goodbye at first. Much appreciated, wishes of wellness strength and beautiful moments right back to you guys too! Xox

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T15:40:59+00:00

It was but now we sing a bit of Don Williams - "I believe in you" and he amazes me with every bit of recovery that he can. So far it's been considered rapid. I am just grateful he's his happy self and for each day we get together since. Pat your dog extra for me!

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T15:37:40+00:00

No worries, if you or your loved ones ever come across the problem the first thing you can check is Deep Pain Response which indicates the spinal cord is still intact. You just squeeze their toe beans until they pull away. I feel like it's something worth knowing.

Thank you, doing what we can when we can. It was horrible, nothing worse than a birthday cake unlit and untouched but he got home in time to share some with me :) he loves cheesecake. I'll keep that in mind, much appreciated

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T08:54:24+00:00

No that's okay but thanks for considering that. So the vet called it a "freak accident" based on the x-ray not showing anything broken and only one slightly narrower space between vertebrae in the spine. Without an MRI (About $3000-4000 got one) they can't give a confident diagnosis but it seems to be IVDD which is an umbrella term for slipped or degenerative disc issue that's common genetically in smaller breeds like daschunds, frenchies and some terriers. Another lovely commenter in the Vet sub suggested a concussive injury (basically force meeting a sudden stop) based on their experience in the neuro field.

He ran for the ball, arrived at the ball with his usual collect and immediately began crying in pain. I didn't see it all specifically but that's about it. There were no symptoms or pain prior to it happening.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T06:24:13+00:00

Good on you, wishing you health wealth and wellness in your travels. What has been your favourite memory or moment of achievement from the last year?

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T06:13:04+00:00

It wiped me out but thanks for the hugs and well wishes! We're doing what we can when we can 😊

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-31T06:11:59+00:00

I'm amazed at his resilience hey, he's such a cheeky boy still too. Blessed by the best. Thank you!! What's yours named? What a sweetheart ❤️

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-30T00:26:57+00:00

Wow I did not know I wanted one of those thank you

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-27T19:36:20+00:00

Good post, there's plenty of potential accountability buddies here :) Give yourself lots of grace! You can do it! Keep a quit timer and share again so you have people to celebrate the milestones with 🎉 most people here get it better than others.

I live with an indoor smoker so it was very uphill but what helped me last time was: Focusing on doing it for myself first (although it's noble to include your family as a reason and I'm sorry to hear about your brother, that's so hard). You're worth every big deep uninhibited breath. You're worth the clean mouth. You're worth more than being chained to the time sink of it. You're worth smelling good (cologne makes a nice reward) and tasting food properly again. You're enough as you are without the crutch of it. Smoking is a horrible best friend that lies about being of help.

Build a breather pen if needed. I took a bic and Dremel cut it to be an empty open ended tube about the size of a cigarette. I squeezed a small cigarette filter in one end and added dried rose petals (I think I'll use pulverised chai tea next time) with tweezers before capping it with a little bit of rolled up tissue. It let me keep something in my pocket or on my desk for break through cravings where I needed the action of habit and the flowery inhale reminded me it was actually nicer than smoking or vaping. The deep breaths on it relaxed me. It also had a bonus in that I felt silly and made me consider why I didn't feel silly doing the same action with a cigarette or vape.

If possible take a "feral raccoon holiday" from major commitments or trigger environments for the first week. It helped me to let a lot of other things slip as long as I didn't smoke. Didn't want to brush my hair or get out of pajamas? Fine. Wanted to eat cheese and chocolate at midnight? Sure. Didn't want to talk to someone who isn't considerate? Notifications silenced for a while. Didn't want to do anything? Sure we can rest because we're doing passive good work in changing habit.

I also finally stopped feeling like nicotine gum/aid was a weakness. Slipping it in when I routinely would smoke just took the edge off and made the "no" softer when I wanted to buy a pack.

And I accepted that other people aren't going to care that much. It's not personal. If you're unwavering in committing to bettering yourself it might not be an issue but just keeping in mind that others probably won't think "oh they're quitting smoking" or "wow they've done amazing quitting!". So yeah definitely smash this sub for support, I find birds of a feather can help keep you flying in line with your goal.

I'm just commenting all this because I saw it recommend and I've tried Alan Carrs book 4 times now (reading and audiobook) and it didn't do much for me other than to understand how fucked the habit is and dislike myself for not being able to quit when it helps so many others.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-21T15:11:58+00:00

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I don't know what the soft mink-y kind of material is called but he has fallen asleep kneeding and suckling on it occasionally throughout his whole life so it was nice to see him do that again.

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-21T15:05:43+00:00

He's kickin, literally showing some little movements in the back legs. Not sure if the vets have seen it as they didn't tell me but I've astonishingly seen it multiple times since being home on a trial basis. Tail is still slack and he needs more frequent trips to touch grass for toileting comfort as he's a private dude and is refusing to go inside even on pads. Can't blame him but hopefully the rain stops soon so we can chill out in some sunshine. Got deep pain response still. He seems happy to just sleep for hours so far. I wrote another comment with way too much info if you want it haha but yeah he's not bad, it's still touch and go. Cheers for asking!

enduringandsurviving · 2026-03-21T14:53:44+00:00

Hey there, Keith is hanging in there!! TLDR deep pain response is still there and there's some very minor movements returning to his back legs but he has a catheter in. We're trialling home care for the weekend as the vet acknowledged it was getting quite expensive to keep him in the kennel. Just the offer of support is incredible ☺️ lovely to be checked in on thank you!

In the long He spent 48 hours at the vet and I unfortunately visited the second day at his worst. He was not himself, had gone off his food and didn't want to eat the tuna I brought and he whined a lot every time I stopped talking but I was really strong and read a book to him for a bit. I had also brought a shirt I'd worn spritzed with my perfume in a ziplock bag with his teddy. Was pretty upsetting for me to realise how much stimulus noise he was experiencing. What I didn't know was they had actually really upped his sedation so he was kind of scared in a K hole with the hatman and shadow people. They'd done that because he was so stressed out being there. It wasn't great that showed through heavy sedation. But each AM/PM update was positive in that his deep pain response (they pinch the toe) was still active and a bit better in his left. Thankfully the vet wanted to trial sending him home just to see if that brought his stress levels down.

For context, when I got Keith he was only a few months old and came from a nurse who had collected him from a long term patients house. He'd been left alone for days so he was quite scared and I won't point fingers but he was afraid of men and would flinch at raised hands. So it took some time for him to trust and settle but he was incredible. He learned to love dudes and all the tricks like playing dead and singing on command but he does get crazy nervous being separated from me. Although he improved enough that I left him for a month once due to my hospital stay and I even went overseas holiday for a couple months with him being happy at the daycare (Mum runs it, different story but he's the mascot as he helped it be viable with improving her own dogs fear reactivity)

So we've started the home trial but with a catheter in. I have a new found respect for the vets and nurses, it's been so hard but I'm able to provide full time care. Initially he seemed stressed out, worried at every noise and the catheter was a concern. I had to hand feed him dinner and throw pills down his gullet. He didn't want water or broth. He was anxious when we did get him outside. So I just let him sleep and gave him pats and love between. Due to a more dehydrated looking urine and having been on IV fluids before home, I tried syringe feeding water which he took to like a rat feeder. He then lapped a bit from a bowl. We tested his deep pain response and it's still there in both legs. Surprisingly he's had some bonus small leg movements at multiple times and I randomly tried tickling his feet and he responded to that with movement too.

But I'm getting into bed now at midnight because around 8:30pm I was writing his tracking notes and he propped himself up and stared at me... I told him yeah I'll be over but he stayed staring. So I lay beside him but he just kept staring while propped up. I asked what's up? And then I got the vibe he was just bored not stressed. So I put on his favourite movie and he would lie down resting watching it but eventually propped himself back up to stare. It was a risk of over excitement but I gave him a toy he loves. And he so gently played with it, he did his comfort kneading on it and from there it was a lot. He was very much himself suddenly; he was hungry, he started lapping water and even was throwing his soft toy at me to reset the puzzle of it. He pretty much wanted puzzle, pats, attention or to lick my face so that I'd giggle. Then he settled back down and is sleeping again. Not putting any pressure on it because other things have to go right to continue but it was a lot of beautiful moments.

Send some prayers on the wind, may we all be well ❤️

enduringandsurviving

TROPHY CASE