My Meditation Hack: Cigars

I was having a bad day.

I had been going through a lot, and with my girlfriend out of town, a lonely house awaited me after my shift waiting tables. I didn’t want to go out drinking. I’ve long tried to abstain when at my most depressed — with my history of alcoholism, I have always been aware that using it to cope with the dark moments could well put me on the path to ruin I’ve flirted with for so long.

But spending the night doing nothing sounded bad.

I needed something different, and something safe. And then I remembered that I…