(Not sure if this is the right forum, but, eh?)
I was just wondering why exactly you take up smoking, and then continue to do so on a regular basis when you are fully aware that:
a. You will eventually become addicted to them
b. They cause cancer and heart failure
Some reasons for starting might include rebelling, trying to be “cool” and fit in with friends, and just curiosity. I’ve known lots of people that started just to fit in, and now wish they hadn’t, because they can’t quit. For me personally, i started when i was 15 years old. I have quit for a while here and there, and switched between regular and lights (and even ultra lights at one time). Now i smoke regulars (marlboro red’s as they are known), just like i always have. As far as the death thing goes, perhaps you should know that my grandfather died of lung cancer. He had tumors, went into a coma, and lots of other unpleasant stuff that i won’t go into here. I was holding his hand when he finally died. You’d think that’d be a hell of an endorsement for NOT smoking, but, i still do it anyway. It’s not that’s i’m stupid, it’s just that i don’t care. I know in all probability that i will die from it. Then again, who knows, one day i may quit for good. Not too long ago (about a month or two ago) i quit. It was more for my loved ones begging me to quit than me really wanting to. Anyway, one day i just figured i’d start again, since i really did miss it, and enjoy it, especially in clubs/bars/etc.
Most smokers i know gripe about how they hate it and wish they could quit, i actually enjoy it. I like the taste and the smell (which most smokers i know don’t). It also helps me think. If ever there is something i can’t figure out, i’ll just pause for a smoke break. It helps me collect my thoughts. Anyways, perhaps none of these are really great reasons for it, so i will close with a quote from Denis Leary…
“If you quit smoking now, you could live 10 more years! Well, those are the 10 WORST years, they’re the ones at the end! Those are the wheel chair, adult diaper, kidney dialysis years, you can have em, we don’t want em!”
Started when I was a stupid kid.
Continuing now I’m a stupid adult.
I think for the shrinking population of adult smokers there are almost certainly emotional/mental issues behind continued smoking. I know there are for me. And that’s not to say that’s an excuse, just a fact.
My wife started smoking to AVOID peer pressure–she used to go drink at bars/parties, and when she had had enough to drink, she would smoke so that there would be something in her hand and people wouldn’t pressure her too much to get another drink.
Why she continues… she hasn’t experienced any adverse effects (and she’s a fairly light smoker), so she doesn’t see any reason to stop.
Well, smoking threads almost always end up in the Pit, but we’ll give this one a shot in IMHO and see what happens.
There wasn’t exactly a reason I started smoking. I knew some other people who did it, and tried it once, and liked it. I’m a fairly tense person, and I just love that first relaxing puff. I’m assuming I was addicted a long time ago, but I don’t want to quit, so I’ve never tried to quit. As for cancer and heart failure, none of the guys in recent memory in my family have lived past 45, and I’m as fat as all of them, so if I live long enough to get lung cancer it will truely be amazing.
Oh, and I obviously didn’t think it would become a habit.
I started sneak smoking back in Junior High school just to try it. Of course I also started smoking pot back then too and if I remember correctly that one was illegal and still happens to be so. Did I know it would be a lifetime habit, no. Did we know it as the evil weed we know it to be now, no. Have I ever tried to quit or even had the desire to quit, no. I don’t happen to be one of those whiney as weaklings that goes around lamenting my inability to stop smoking. I know that if I did have the serious desire I’d stop. I just don’t. Do statistics about lung cancer and heart disease bother me, no. Neither do statistics about AIDS or Ebola. Something will kill me one day. It may very well be the effects of cigarettes, more likely than Ebola. Do I see a moral problem here, my “don’t give a shit” attitude about cigarettes, no. I don’t get that either. Why is it that when people ask why you started or why you don’t quit they almost always make it sound like you’re doing something, hienously wrong, a crime against nature or something? So what if I care to shrink my arteries or blacken my lungs, how is it anyone else’s concern? I don’t see anyone asking any serious questions about why we have several million alcoholics in this country. I don’t see constant moral outrage about that. I don’t even see any “don’t drink” commercials, just don’t drink and drive. Oh it’s OK to rot your liver but not your lungs?
Needs2know
A girl I wanted to see smoked, and like a total dummy I started. The kicker is I never seriously dated her… and I kept smoking. I started at about 18-19, quit cold turkey at 23. I wonder at time how much damage I managed to do to my body in those 4-5 years. That friggen drug should be BANNED. As an ex-smoker I can say these people have no respect for themselves or others around them when they spark up.
Hey bernse, I resemble that remark…
I wanted to be cool, so up I lit. That was in jr. high, when being cool REALLY mattered.
I agree that I “knew” it could kill me, but the bulletproof years were upon me, and…
Now I know better, but that’s not why I quit.
Well, my experience was the opposite of most, apparently. I didn’t do it to fit it or anything; in fact, I would only smoke (I don’t anymore, for the time being anyway) while in my car or otherwise with no one else around (for the most part; this broke down at times in bars, etc., when the urge would suddenly strike). I guess I felt embarrassed about doing it or something.
Why do people do it? I guess a non-smoker wouldn’t understand that there really is some pleasure involved. I agree with the previous post saying that it helps you think. People who’ve never smoked can’t see the fact that some (like me) have/had no other reason than that they truly enjoyed it. It wasn’t to fit in, or rebel, or be cool. There are risks involved, and some unpleasantness as far as other things as well (my reason for stopping: my wife finds the smell disgusting. Why argue? It is, in a way). Do I miss it? To the point of addiction, no. But I sure do miss the pleasure it brought–the relaxation, the taste, etc.
I generally only smoke if I’ve been drinking. For some reason, sometimes when I’m drunk I really enjoy cigarettes. At the rate I smoke, it’s not likely to have any adverse health effects. I’m talking about a cigarette or two on the occasional weekend.
How can someone who is “BANNED” post messages? Does he have super powers or something?
Try some deductive reasoning, astro. He was banned after posting this.
The very first time I tried smoking was when my little brother and I swiped a few of my Dad’s Pall Mall non filtered cigs. Wanna see a kid turn green? Yeeck.
Jump foward to Jr High and you’ll find me trying my first dip. I liked it and continued dipping Skoal for a good ten years if not more. But in Ohio, dipping was ok (I even knew a few girls who did it). When I went to college on the East Coast, not only was it looked down on, it was considered down right nasty. So I picked up a pack of Camel Light Wides and have been there ever since.
Do I know they’ll kill me? Sure, but no quicker than the Big Macs, or the beers, or my job. Did I know they were addictive? No. Do I believe it now? You bet. But, it’s no heroin. Would I quit? If I could flip a switch I would, but I just can’t seem to care enough to follow through.
I’m lost who was banned?
The OP. Like it says at the top of the page.
MadHatter
BANNED