I Quit Everything, by Freda Love Smith (Courtesy of Freda Love Smith)
Freda Love Smith is a quitter. She’s been a lot of things in her life so far—a drummer in a number of acclaimed indie rock bands including the Blake Babies and the Mysteries of Life, an author of two memoirs, and a parent of two children. In January 2021, as the pandemic raged on and violence erupted at the U.S. Capitol, Smith started a series of what she calls quitting experiments—temporarily giving up everything she used in a habitual, to-get-by way…first alcohol, then sugar, followed by cannabis, caffeine, and social media. Then she kept quitting, beyond even what she expected: she quit her job and her musical career as a drummer. She also started something, and finished it—a book about her experiments called I Quit Everything: How One Woman’s Addiction to Quitting Helped Her Confront Bad Habits and Embrace Midlife. This week on Inner States, WFIU’s David Brent Johnson, in conversation with Freda Love Smith.