I quit 7 days ago. I regret the money!!! Let’s say an avg of $20 a carton for 52 weeks for 32 years. (It’s $33 now, but I’m just trying to include inflation in there.)
$33, 280. Jeezopete. That’s a lot of money. And imagine how many cigarettes I smoked! 200 cigs x 52 weeks x 32 years = 332,800 cigarettes. AACCKK!!
I regret not quitting sooner. It wasn’t near as bad as I had imagined. You just have to want to quit, just like any addiction. If you don’t want to, you won’t. It’s that simple.
People in general don’t seem to realize (or care) how much they reek period. If they don’t smell of smoke, they smell of Polo. If not Polo then half a bottle of the newest Avon product. If not that then just stinky shampoo. Let’s say someone doesn’t use any of these products, yup, you guessed it… he’s the one in the back farting.
Thus the nature of elevators.
The thing is, there aren’t hordes of people going after the Polo shelves at stores because it makes people stink. Perfumes make me SICK. I get nauseous with a pounding headache. In fact, I find the smell of your average American in the morning disgusting. They reek in a vile combination of shampoos, soaps, deodorants, perfumes and aftershaves. It’s far worse then anything from a smoker IMO. Smoke odor doesn’t make me want to vomit, thick perfume does.
All these rabid non-smokers shouting rights, where are my non-perfume rights?
Izzy, I can see that you’re a long time poster, so it’s with all due respect that I must voice my disbelief about this question. You’re certainly at liberty to post this question but what’s the purpose? You’ve already said that you’d never met a smoker over 25 who didn’t regret starting. So what’s the point? I don’t see where this serves any other purpose than to bring out all the usual yay and nay responses.
The question is, in essence, ‘do you regret some action on your part that has likely negative reprecussions?’ and you’ve characterized this action as smoking. How about if that action where gambling, or drinking, or eating, or heroin use or any other addiction or human malady.
‘Gee pal, you’re poor, you better make money soon before you can’t. How about all you long time poor folks out there. Do you regret being poor? Or are you glad to be surving on the brink of poverty?’
I hope my comments are taken in the spirit that they are intended.
I never had any regrets, I dont think. I did enjoy smoking for 10 years. I am going on three weeks mostly without, although I dont want to say I quit because I will go back to this gross habit. Two weeks I was good without any, but I am a bitch now, headaches, irritable. I bought a pack and can taste all the chemicals, if i continue I supose that taste will go away and it wont feel like I licked an ashtray. During my motorcycle test I had to push a motorcycle and I was huffing and puffing, I want to be able to breathe again properly.
Sometimes I wished I never started, I do miss the social aspect of smoking, but overall I am trying my best to stay away and put something else in my mouth to occupy my time, so that nic fit passes.
You’re on the mark - he listened with all due consideration - and agreed with me - but did not give it up.
I think the reason for this - in most cases like this - is not because guys feel so immortal that they rationally think smoking forever is a good idea. I think it is because they underestimate the difficulties involved in breaking the habit. Partly, this is because at that early point they probably could stop relatively easily, and don’t appreciate that it will become more difficult later. So the thinking is something like “right now I like it, and the health effects would only come into play if I smoke for a long long time - I’ll keep smoking for now, but will quit before I incur the risk of damaging my health”. Of course, by then the addiction will have become stronger, but by then it’s too late.
Well as I said in the OP, I had only my own experience to go by - here I am putting it before a larger audience, to see if perhaps my experience is not representative. And indeed, several posters have posted to say that they have no regrets about the practice.
You seem to be characterizing the question as a form of rubbing it in to unfortunate people (particularly in your final paragraph) but I don’t see it that way, and fortunately no one else seems to have taken offence. In the case of smoking, smokers are people who have at some point decided that the positives outweigh the negatives - it is not a foregone conclusion that every single one of these people has changed his/her mind. It is not at all equivalent to asking poor people how they like being poor, unless there’s some positive aspect of being poor that made these people deliberately chose to be poor - an unlikely circumstance. (But I guess you could legitimately ask the same question of monks. )
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