I was endeavoring to convince my brother-in-law that it was a good idea to give up smoking while he was still young (early 20’s) and hadn’t been smoking for too long. And my main selling point was that after all the arguments are said and done, I have never met a smoker above the age of 25 who did not regret that he had started the habit, and did not wish he could stop. So stop now, before it gets harder.
But that’s just my own experience. So my question goes out to all the long-time smokers out there. Do you regret that you ever started? Wish that you could stop? Or are there people who think it is worth it and a good idea?
I regret the addiction. I quit for three months and the desire never released its’ hold on me. While I really enjoy smoking sometimes, usually it’s just habit and chemical dependency. I have pretty balanced self-destructive/healthy yin-yang, but I wish I could effortlessly bike 20 miles, or play soccer all afternoon, and smoking makes these activities less enjoyable. A cigarette with a cup of coffee in the morning is sublime, and smoking while drinking and playing pool is de rigeur, and part of me still loves pissing off self-righteous wheatgrass drinking types, but I wish I could limit my smoking to just these occasions.
I regret it. I hate the fact that I’m short of breath after exertion (my stamina’s fine, but I can’t do sprints of any kind). It costs me a fortune and does me no good at all. I hate the fact that the addiction is stronger than hunger.
Regrets? Nothing but. I’ve quit for as long as four years and started again. There’s nothing in my experience that can come close in terms of addiction. I hate being a slave to a stupid, ugly, foul-smelling weed that will only contribute to an early death.
That said, I recently quit again. It’s been six weeks.
You may not get many responses simply becauses a lot of long-term smokers are dead. Then there are those who will insist that they have no regrets even as they are being hooked up to that final respirator. Good riddance.
A friend’s doctor said anything less than 10 cigarettes a day doesn’t increase one’s risk of anything by all that much. That’s about how many I smoke a day (unless I’m getting my drink on, as the kids say), and I have been for about ten years.
Then it must be true, right? Sounds like your “friend’s doctor” has done a lot of research in this field.
Not only is the statement by your “friend’s doctor” ridiculous, it is also demonstrably false. Smoking 9 cigarettes a day dramatically increases one’s risk of emitting an odor reminiscent of ashtrays.
I hate it. I continue to quit and start again. I started at 13 and I’ll be 30 two weeks from today. If I could go back to 1986 and shake my 13 year old self I would, if only to try to keep myself from making the mistake I made.
I’m taking a phys ed class this semester and it sucks - swimming and the moist air and chlorine on top of the smokers lungs makes it harder than it should be.
I’m quitting again soon (have a date set and everything). One of these days, I will succeed.
I hated it when I smoked. I hated it when it killed my father. I hated it when it killed my stepfather. I hate it now when it’s killing a woman friend who is only 2 years older than me and looks 15 years older than me. I celebrate daily the fact that I gave up the foul, stinking, death-dealing, carcinogenic, toxic, polluting habit over 20 years ago.
The worst thing I ever did in my life was start smoking.
The second worst thing I ever did was to go back on them after five years off them.:smack:
I can’t see any advantage smoking.
Smoking? Not so much. I recently weaned myself from 2+ packs to 4 cigarettes and back up to about half a pack a day. I doubt I’ll ever give it up. Let me tell ya - when you’re down to six or eight cigarettes a day you can catch one hell of a buzz off of 'em.
Does your brother-in-law have children? Does he want them?
They will regret going to school every day smelling like cigarettes. They will regret inhaling the secondhand smoke – or they will regret that daddy has to stop what he’s going and go outside every few hours. They will regret having to listen to those juicy morning coughs.
There’s a good chance they’ll regret starting smoking themselves, too.
Imagine someone who gets off on puking on or around people.
They do it in part because they enjoy the rush that vomiting gives them, and in part because they just love to piss off the anti-vomiting Gestapo.
It’s dirty, leaving detritus everywhere, and the reek of it makes other people ill.
Pretty much the same thing. Cigarette smoke makes many people physically ill, and being trapped in an enclosed area (e.g. an elevater) with someone who smokes is horrible, and I am sick of the drifts of cigarette butts in public places from self-absorbed/lazy people who believe the world is their ashtray.
