Smoking.

Cigarettes, a salesman's dream and an almost instant response to stress for those unfortunate enough to be hooked.

The last sentance contains the only semi good things I can think of in relation to tobacco.

Everything else is dire from the horrendous outlay involved in perptuating the habit, to the multitude of risks posed to individual health.

I am thirty-two years old and have been smoking since the age of about fifteen. Not just a smoker either, a comprehensive chain smoker. This wretched addiction has led to a recent and fairly dramatic deline in my overall heath, is ruining my looks and making me smell like an old ashtray.

If you are a smoker and are thinking of giving up, consider my message another good reason for doing so.

I quit smoking about a year and a half ago. I quit cold turkey and used 2 reasons everytime I wanted a cigarette. Reason # 1: Vanity- I did not want to continue to age myself at an increased rate. I like looking young and not have those lines around my mouth.

Reason # 2: The increased cost of a pack of cigarettes, I now have a little extra money that I can spend on things that last alot longer than a puff on a cigarette.

I am soooooooo glad I gave it up, now the slightest smell of a cigarette turns my stomach.
Good advice Wolfshadow!

ledchick said:

I quit smoking about a year and a half ago. I quit cold turkey and used 2 reasons everytime I wanted a cigarette. Reason # 1: Vanity- I did not want to continue to age myself at an increased rate. I like looking young and not have those lines around my mouth.

Reason # 2: The increased cost of a pack of cigarettes, I now have a little extra money that I can spend on things that last alot longer than a puff on a cigarette.

I am soooooooo glad I gave it up, now the slightest smell of a cigarette turns my stomach.
Good advice Wolfshadow!

Click to expand...

Thanks ledchick.

Agree that the threat to vanity has much more immediacy than warnings about long term implications such as heart disease and cancer -things that the young find very easy to distance themselves from.

I was walking into the grocery store this morning just as a fellow who had just left was lighting up. He was paper thin, hunched, and rather pasty. He looked plain unhealthy. Anyway, he lit his cigarette, took a long, deep drag, and began to hack and cough and weeze so badly I was afraid he was going to keel over. Eventually he managed to stumble off toward the parking lot, laboring for breath the whole way.

They should bring him to schools. He could stand in the corner and smoke, wearing a sign around his neck that says "This could be you someday".

i was thinking how to dissuade my future child from smoking. i had a friend in high school whose mom made her smoke three at a time when she was young. she said it made her so sick she's never even considered it again. when my husband was young his dad did the same to him and he's never smoked. i was thinking of doing the same thing to my kids.

wolfshadow said:

....things that the young find very easy to distance themselves from.

Click to expand...

It is always "I will quit before then" or "You have to die of something".

I saw a young pregnant woman walking down the street this morning, smoking a cigarette. Grrr!

:club:

I understand those trying to reach out that smoke saying not to smoke i'm very sure that u can do it too
an addiction is all in the head besides there's a lot of other ways to get rid of stress

Renkei said:

I understand those trying to reach out that smoke saying not to smoke i'm very sure that u can do it too
an addiction is all in the head besides there's a lot of other ways to get rid of stress

Click to expand...

You're not wrong there Renkei. My latest excuse for smoking is that "I'm waiting for the results of my hospital appointment so won't be able to give up untill I know what they revealed ".

Could there BE a more classical symptom of addiction?

I smoke.
I know I shouldn't, but I still do.
I don't even have any real excuses, good or bad.

The only thing is, it's my choice, and nobody can tell me to quit unless I ask for help.

I quit smoking and i often had excuses for myself like that
its more of a way to get rid of stress a personal addiction
try replacing it with a hobby
like when your stressed out play an instrument, being creative is a great way to relieve stress

and smoking can be a choice or an addiction
a hobby can be an addiction so think as smoking a hobby anyone can be good at it.
but even thou it relieves stress it also causes problems for you in the future
which will lead to even more stress

smoking is a choice or an addiction
but not all choices are good ones
and not all addictions are good ones.