Smoking...

[daggblu4]

i was a smoker and have been clean for about 2 months mrgreen i do still crave it monstrously after meals or when i'm reading outdoors. i know it's quite lengthy, but bare with me. i quit because i noticed my skin's elasticity weakened specially during winter. that meant i was drying out and that hastens wrinkles. my teeth were getting yellow. i couldn't inhale to full capacity. when i cough remnants of something akin to metallic taste (not blood, maybe phlegm) and smoke lingers in my internal passages (throat, nasal cavity) even though i haven't had a cigarette. my eyes were drying out. and my voice was changing. i didn't want to be like those old women...you know who there are. i'm 26.
i had my first stoge at 13. my cousin and i stole a pack (back then when they displayed it) and snuck to the side of my house. we didnt' even smoke it properly! sporadically spread throughout middleschool, the handful of times i did take drags were just 'puffs'. so i didn't really have a real cig. until high school. and i didn't start religiously buying my own pack until college. it didn't help that my boyfriend was a heavy smoker. i actually stopped buying packs (maybe once in a blue moon when absolutely much needed at the moment access to his cig. was nil) due to my older cousin's calculation of his yearly expenditure of over 1K ( we're talking like mid 90's) a year. so that turned me off. it wasn't actually my health that grounded me from buying packs, it was the thought of wasteful money. ironic. lo and behold, i'm around a heavy smoker anyway. but because of his current health issues, he is now convinced quitting is the way to live. he's happy coz he breathes better and plays sports with outstanding stamina compared to being a smoker.
you're not the only one who LIKES being a smoker. we were, too. we tried to quit before and started back...guiltily, we said we liked smoking too much. we quit for ourselves, our own health- NOT FOR EACH OTHER. that's important. but i'm his anchor. so that helps.
think of the money you're saving. that thought helps me a lot. good luck.  

[Chefeetaboopers]

Well, I don't like the idea of smoking. it ruins your body, can ruin your relationships with people, and secondhand smoke kills. I don't think it makes people cool. I understand people says it calms them, but, why not try a healthier addiction like gum or something? I'm not saying smokers are bad, but they did make a kind of bad choice to smoke. Not judging anyone, but, yeah...  

[Iconoclast Enthusiast]

lucky_wish

Okay, sure you don't care about when you die but think about it this way: "Is smoking truly attractive?"
My mom used to tell me that looks aren't everthing but it influences a lot of what people think of you.
Getting a husband is going to be pretty hard if you fall in love with someone against smoking.

Who says we're all going to be dashing around looking for husbands? confused Do we have to do everything we do in life with consideration to whether or not it's "attractive?" And attractive to whom, I might ask?

-----

Anyway, I'm in a similar situation. I've been smoking for just less than 2 years, and I've thought about quitting because that's what my family wants. However, I don't want to stop smoking. I like it. It's pleasant for me, I like the smell, the taste, the feeling, and not to mention it can be a very efficient (and legal) stress reliever.  

[dark lord toilet scrubber]

1. if it makes you feel better do it
2. just think smoking is better then spitting tobacco
3.big deal atleast its legal  

[Medic83]

Before you yell at me i got the ok to post these pictures of what smoking does to the human body.


The above picture is of a healthy lung.

The pictures below are of lungs that belonged to various smokers-


 

[f ii o r e ll a]

I know it's a filthy habit that can ruin your insides and all, but I think that it really comes down to the individual's choice of whether to quit or to keep smoking or to start or not to smoke at all. I believe that people should be aware of the harm it does before making that choice.

I don't smoke although I have been contemplating it within my mind whether I should or shouldn't. My life's full of stress but I guess I don't want to smoke because cigarettes seem too pricey when I could be saving up for something more. And because beauty means a lot to me, I don't like how it can affect my appearance later on in life.  

[Nemsy]

It's your life.

As my A.P. Cal teacher told me "Hey, we all are going to die one day"
(Funny how he tells us not to smoke and he smokes. ><)

Yeah, there are all bad sides to smoking, but your old enough to make your own choices. Right?

 

[Medic83]

I know it is a filthy habit! When i was in the army i used to smoke a pack a day. Smoking contributed to my medical discharge from the army, and i regret starting in the first place! Finally after i was discharged after much urging from my mom and my good friends and other family i finally quit! As a medic i have seen first hand what smoking does to the human body. To see what it does to the human body please see one of my prior posts.  

[axl0v3lyxsin]

I smoke.
I feel it's fine unless it interferes
with personal relationships or responsibilities,
like kids for example.
You'll know when your ready to quit,
and now isn't that time.  

[XxXxFoxii_demonxXxX]

Well its your life. Smoking is bad, because it not only endangers your health, but it also endangers the health of those around you. You will know what path you want to follow in time. But I say, smoke if you must, its your life and you'll know when your ready to quit.  

[G0d_0f_R0ck]

u should really quit smoking is only a temporary stimulant and hen the effects wear off ur left even more depressed than u were to begin with which means u have to smoke even more to get back to the point you were at and then once the effect wears off u are even more depressed stressed whatever and so on and so on it goes like this lets say one is content with life an any thing below one is not ur at a 0 you smoke one cigarete and go up to a 1 then the effects wear off u go down to a -1 so u smoke two cigaretes and go back up to a 1 the effects weared off but since u smoked two cigaretes u've gon to a -3 so u smoke 4 cigs to get back up to a one once the effects wear off ur down to a -7 it's a complete downward spiral eventually u'l be smoking two to three packs a day it just isn't good  

[Erynnari]

Im a light smoker, but my mother is a heavu smoker and she has been doing it for years.

SHe is not wrinkly, and she has nice teeth, though she has an awful cough.

Some people have no adverse affects to smoking, others do .

Its a gamble,

and as I always say, do what makes you happy if its not hurting anyone else

 

[LavenderMintRose]

I'm living with false hope

And my eyes just want to see a ray of light

I'm gonna find it in my fairy tale...

There's an ad run on TV here in New York where there's a guy sitting in the doctors office during a check up, and the doctor walks in, looks at the guy and says, "You have lung cancer,".

Then it goes back to the beginning, and the doctor comes in and says "You have emphysema,".

And it repeats that with all these different heath problems.

Then it says something along the lines of, "If you're not prepared to quit smoking, what are you prepared for?"

They also have the ones with the guy who has a hole in his throat from smoking and speaks through a little device he puts into the hole, and the one with the lady who lost her fingers due to some kind of infection caused by tobacco.

And you might say you don't care if you die, but there are two issues with that:

1. It could change. You could find something (or someone) you care about so much it makes you want to live.

2. Cancer is a very bad way to die. It's physically painful for you and it's horrible for everyone around you who loves you to sit there and watch you fade away. Even if it's not for yourself, do you really want the people you love to have to go through that?

I also recommend yoga as an alternate way to relieve stress.

Also, if you decide to quit, which you hopefully will, check your city and state websites to see if the Department of Health where you live gives free help with quitting. I know New York does.

Short version: Smoking = Bad. Quit. Like now.