Community, Support
and Information
For Those Thinking
of Quitting Smoking

Quit Smoking, Why?

Perhaps the more appropriate question is, "Smoke, Why?" When it comes right down to it, what are you getting out of smoking?

I remember why I started smoking at the age of 17, it was because I was a busboy at Hungry Hunter and I actually received a promotion to head busboy. It carried more responsibility and I thought in order to cope with the "stress" I would smoke.

And so began my near 2 decade career as a smoker. I quit over a year ago though, cold turkey. And I'll never smoke again.

Looking back it's hard to believe I actually thought those thoughts. I'm sure there were social pressures and the fact that my dad was a heavy smoker as well, probably didn't help. But here I am over a year smokeless and in retrospect the whole concept of smoking and what I thought I was getting from it, was such an illusion.

Smoking turned me into a notorious procrastinator. Whenever things came up that had to be done, I had to smoke first. As a result, whatever dilhemma that had arose became worse and worse every minute that went by, while I went for my smoke. Consequently, exacerbating the original problem. So when you get right down to it, I was smoking to make my problems worse.

Pretty ironic.

But my rationalization was that I smoked to make things better in some regard. I smoked to make problems easier to deal with. Make me feel better. And over-all make life better. At least that's what my excuse was to smoke. And it's probably many people's excuse as well. Being 'clean' for over a year now, it's just so clear what had happened. Tobacco companies sold us on these results and pleasures we would receive from smoking.

It's almost like they made a list of all the harmful effects of smoking and convinced everyone to the exact opposite of the effects.

Those still smoking that don't care, will. On this final "totallyquit" of smoking for me, one of the differences in my attitude was that when I saw a pack of smokers, or the lone smoker standing outside, I no longer envied them. I didn't even have anxiety. The difference I felt was pity. I really felt sorry for them that they were still thinking they were getting something from that cigarette.