I have made it 1 year without smoking a single cigarette. 365 days. For 22 years, from 17 to 39 I smoked every single day. I smoked a lot. I probably averaged 2 1/2 packs a day, some days more, some days less. Over the last year, I went from being a big smokers rights guy to being a person who looks at a smoker and shakes his head at the stupidity on display. It is partly a defense mechanism to keep me from thinking about picking up the habit again, but truth be told, I never really struggled all that much after I decided I was done with cigarettes. Once I put 'em down there just wasn't an option for me to pick 'em up again. I can honestly say I've never really had a strong urge to start smoking again. Why did I quit you ask? I'll tell you and it might surprise you. First of all, it wasn't really for the health factor, although that is probably the biggest overall benefit I've received. It was mostly because smoking had become too much of a pain in the ass both physically and monetarily. The state where I live, like most other states, decided it was best if they told the owners of private property what they could and couldn't allow with regards to the use of a product that was legal to buy and use. In plain English it is this: you want to turn me into a social outcast, frowned upon by society and at the same time you continue to raise the price on cigarettes to pay for all the things that didn't get funded in the most recent budget? SCREW THAT! Why would I want to stand in the freezing snow and rain smoking a cigarette that came from a pack that cost me $5.12? I couldn't stand to let them win so I did something they never expected; I got completely out of the game. Now if they want to raise the price to $10.00 a pack, I say go for it! No skin off my back. It makes no difference to me if you want to give your hard earned money to some creepy son of a bitch sitting behind a desk at Phillip Morris or R.J Reynolds, and believe me they are creepy. If big brother wants to confine all the dirty smokers to a camp in the Nevada desert, just give me a little warning so I can roll up my windows when I drive by. Now when I'm standing behind a person buying smokes at the gas station I feel free. I watch them lay their money down and I begin to smile, I'm free. Free! Sometimes I even say something like,"Holy shit! How much?" playing the role of unaware non smoker, who points out the lunacy of the price paid for something that is really nothing. If your a smoker, knock yourself out, I'm not going to stop you. I was once one of you. But now that I don't smoke I don't care what you have to go through or how much you have to pay in order to smoke, if you don't like it do what I did; quit. Finally if you absolutely have to smoke, please don't do it around me. You stink.
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4 comments:
Congrats on quitting. I'm envious it was easy for you. I struggled to quit for years, and once started again after a whole year after taking one puff of a friend's cigarette. Whatever your reasons, I'm so glad you did quit. (My mom died of lung cancer.)
I am not sure if you are smoking now or not. If you are, you can quit again. Remember that it's 98.5% mental. If you become a non-smoker the moment you put that last nasty, chemical delivery tube down, then the option to smoke again isn't there. You may say that's "too easy" but It's as simple as that. I did use the patch for a month to wean myself off of the nicotine; the only truly addictive part of smoking. If you want, I will tell you the exact plan I used to systematically rid my body nicotine. P.S I am writing this on a laptop I bought last July with money that would have otherwise gone to cigarettes.
Very hurtful.
There are a couple ways not to feel hurt. Join me and be done with those nasty little fuckers, or continue poisoning yourself until you become so sick that reading blogs will not be on your "to do" list.
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