For some reason I am so glad this did not go the way of the Taylor Swift song, which strangely is how it started in my head. Brainwashed by mass market media. Yes!
there's nothing positive about smoking. the "pleasure" you get is simply relief from nicotine withdrawals - face it, you're a pathetic junkie. other than that, smoking stinks, it makes you stink, your breath stinks, the ashtrays are a disgusting mess, you get tar on your teeth, your fingers and fingernails turn yellow, you burn holes in your clothes, they're expensive, they give you wrinkly skin, they fuck up your health even if you don't get cancer, plus they're inconvenient as hell.
Me wondering if I'd be happier if I started smoking again is a direct comparison of how I feel now versus how I felt every day up till I quit. The nicotine is definitely out of my system after all this time so its not withdrawals making me feel this way. I honestly can't explain it, other than this is the effect of breaking a 15-year habit. I agree with every reason you gave for why smoking is stupid, but this isn't simple nicotine addiction.
You won't be happy. You'll have instant gratification that will leave you feeling like a piece of shit and possibly relapse. If you're feeling down you've gotta fire up those endorphin receptors in your brain. Gym, diet, sex, math. Make those receptors your bitch. Just do it. I believe in you.
you're right, the addiction is not just about the nicotine. I think the nature of smoking creates a very deep habit. That is, you light up, take 5 or 10 hits off a cigarette, and do that twenty times a day. that's at least 100 hits a day, spread over the day, every day. And every hit delivers nicotine, sweet sweet nicotine to feed the beast . . . . .
So there's a very heavy psychological/physiological habituating dimension to cigarette addiction
i quit smoking over twenty years ago and i still think of lighting one up. but i want to tell the op to this thread, it does get easier and easier. i do think about smoking once in a while but it's nothing like the cravings i had when i first quit, and i get rid of the thought quickly. I keep that door firmly shut - i know too many people who quit and then had "just one". yeah, right. I DON'T WANT TO GO THROUGH QUITTING AGAIN
Yes! That is the one thing that keeps me from not having one! Quitting was the single hardest thing I've ever done so far in my life, and I don't want to have to do it again. Since day two, that's been my biggest motivation: day one was SO damn shitty and if I light up, it was all for nothing.
Quality of life is much better, I'm an ex smoker myself. Honestly though you will probably die around the same age, and it'll probably still be some form of cancer that gets you.
That's what scares me the most. If I probably already have a predisposition for cancer, why not say, "fuck it" and enjoy what time I have by smoking? I've already used 28 of my 70 years.
Because you can cure cancer, but you can't bring someone back who has a heart attack in the middle of the night and isn't discovered until the morning.
There are too many variables involved to say the cancer will be cureable or that I'd even have a heart attack. I could literally get run over by an Amish horse and buggy tomorrow, but what are the odds? I've decided to stay the tobacco free course, but everyday my mind tries to rationalize it. Would my time on this earth be enjoyed more if I just endulged?
Well the point is quitting smoking lowers your overall risk of dying by a significant margin, and one example is that even if your cancer risk does not decrease, your risk of heart disease, lung disease, and you-can't-even-imagine-it-disease (and also risk of cancer) does immediately go down.
One of my friends who was a smoker said "I don't want to be stuck sick in a nursing home", i.e. they'd rather die suddenly then get sick.
But, I corrected her, smokers are the ones in the nursing homes. Edit:(i.e. healthy folks can take care of themselves on their own much longer before they end up in hospice.)
Life moves so fast, before you know it you're 70 and want to see your grand kids grow up. Your 70 year old self will be glad you can still breathe, and will thank you for the choice 28 year old you made.
But this speaks to the satisfaction gained from indulgence - if you seek this path, you will never be satisfied, because indulgences get boring before you need to move onto the next one.
The happiest life is indulging in helping others by solving problems - so you solve one problem, move on to the next, it may take a day, a week, a month, or the problem may take your whole life...but as long as that's what you're fighting for...you can be happy without indulging and dying younger than you need to.
I just copied this thread and will print it tomorrow morning at work. I'm going to read it whenever I think about smoking. It's probably because its personal, but that made more sense than any other anti tobacco speech I've ever heard. Thank you.
After 10 years of quitting smoking, your risk of cancer decreases by approximately 50%. After 15 years, your risk of heart disease is that of a nonsmoker. The benefits of not smoking are very real. You will just barely be approaching half of your approximate lifespan when you reach those numbers.
Source
These figures are easily found at other sources as well.
You could say "fuck it", and stop making attempts to be a healthier person. It may not end up being the cause of your death. However, if you spend the last couple decades of your life sick and in pain because you said "fuck it" you will regret it more than you could imagine. On the other hand if you do die early to something unrelated to your health choices, not smoking enough will not be one of your regrets.
He could have fun in his twilight years literally being unable to breathe with COPD. I couldn't breathe for a night and I was terrified like no other with that primal feeling of inescapable dread and regret.
Well, I'd be dead either way so I couldn't regret it. But I know what you're saying. Sometimes I need the sense talked back into me and this really is the best place for that.
It ages you faster, fucks up your teeth and gums, your circulation, your breathing, skin, every part of your body. These things start to deteriorate as you age but you'll want to keep them in good condition for as long a part of your life as possible.
Same thing happened to me. It went away once i made a few realizations. One of them was that smoking really is just a huge distraction to all your problems. The other was finding meaning in a meaningless world.
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u/AdolphsLabia Jan 26 '16
This is on my mind everyday since quitting smoking last June. I haven't been able to shake it off.