I have the example of my dad, who is smoking for over 50 years now and he's saying that he will quite when he's 120 lol, meaning, never! I think that today everyone knows that smoking is bad for our health, so what I want to ask here is, what reasons are good enough for you to quit? Would you quit for your kids, health reasons, economical?
If I was a smoker I would quit for myself and my family. I think--not judging here just saying--that it must be very difficult to watch someone you love smoke when the dangers are well publicized. I am not downplaying how difficult I imagine it is to quit smoking but I think smokers are selfish. My fiance smokes and it is the one thing we consistently fight about. I tell him that if he won't quit for our future he can at least quit for his own health and it goes in one ear out the other.
I never smoked nor would I ever. My parents were smokers for as long as I can remember. I remember the massive amount of money they would spend. The yellow colors of the white walls from the smoke were gross. Plus, once I left home and was away from smokers I realized how badly it stunk. Plus it has a lot of bad health affects. I am not trying to be mean to smokers, but I think their health should be more important than a smoke. Plus if they have a family that should stop them. Their kids and wife/husband are literally watching them kill themselves slowly. It's bad. My spouse quit after being a smoker for nearly a decade. He had no problems at all with it. I understand it differs between people, but health and family are more important than feeding an addiction to me.
I was a heavy smoker before and I did smoke for around ten years. I stopped because I became pregnant with my first baby and I just can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke. I did return to smoking after I gave birth BUT I make it a point only to smoke when I'm really far away from my kid. Then a year later, I got pregnant again with my second baby and again can't stand cigarette smoke. But I've made a promise that I won't go back to smoking even after giving birth. And I did just that - I haven't smoke since November of 1998. For me, if you really love the people around you and you care about yourself then it's enough reason to stop smoking.
I think any reason would be a good one to quit smoking, considering it is bound to kill you prematurely, but as for myself, I'd value health and expense most of all as reasons to quit smoking. Cigarette prices continually keep getting higher and it's unlikely that it will ever go down, and since it's just a luxury expense, I think it's one of the items that would be easily crossed out on the list if someone is on a tight budget, not to mention it will also most likely save you a lot on hospital bills as you grow older and less immune to health risks.
Most smokers always claim that they've tried but it's just not possible to give up [smoking] easily. A friend of mine who had been a smoker for years made a new year's resolution not to smoke and he kept it. From Jan. 1 2008, till now, he's never touched a cigar. I don't know what prompted him to stop but I think setting a good example to his kid was the reason. Kids always are the best reason to quit smoking.
I used to be a smoker for several years, not a heavy one, but still I would enjoy 4-5 hand-rolled cigarettes a day. I found that smoking helped me deal with stress. I was more addicted to the effect it had on me that on the taste. So, when I decided to quit, it was quite a psychological experience for me not reach for a cigarette every time I had a "crisis".
I'm actually smoking right now when I saw your post. It really caught my attention so here's my input. Everytime I pick up a cigarette and I start smoking I feel like I'm just adding more crap to my lungs. It gets harder to sleep at night because my body gets stiff. I noticed when I run I start slowing down or coughing. If anybody is reading this please pray that I stop smoking. I know every little prayer will help. I have seen people just start losing limbs because of smoking.
I have actually tried smoking but I was never addicted to it. I guess I'm just lucky that I never got addicted to it, because I know some people who are addicted and they are wasting their money and shortening their lifespan by doing it everyday. I think the sole reason that smoking is bad for you is a good reason enough to quit. If that doesn't scare you, then nothing else will.
I've been trying to quit gradually not just because i now that have a kid but also for my health. I sometimes feel the difficulty of breathing when laying down. And my cough seem to come back every now and then. Old habits die hard really. I've been smoking since i was in high school.
Quiting gradually is something that I don't believe it works etc, I've tried that and it's simply no good. From my experience I think we just have to quit and that's it, it might be hard at first, but we just build one day after the other... I think we need to stop for our health and the health of those around us, especially if we are parents that's the best motivation.
Addiction makes you extremely selfish. Yes, of course we all care about our kids and our spouses and living a long happy life, but do you think addiction cares about any of that? Otherwise nobody would smoke. I smoked for most of my life. I was so tired of people telling me to think of my kids and dying young etc etc. Like I didn't love my children.. all that did was make me feel guilty and resentful. But I continued smoking. Going without was a painful experience for me and I didn't want to go through the initial agony of it. You truly have to be ready for it. One day you'll just click and all the reasons will be enough and you'll do it. Because right now is as good a time as any. It's either now or later and I'm the type of person that likes to get things out of the way so I don't have to deal with it later. I knew I wanted to quit, smoking forever was not an option. So I forced myself through the agony. Telling people to think about their kids and dying is not a good way to get them to quit. Pushing them is not a good way to get them to quit. Smokers KNOW all the reasons to quit. Leave them alone. Besides.. the way most people eat will kill them a LOT faster and I bet most of the non-smokers eat in such a way. How would you feel if I started guilting you right now about what you're doing to your children and how you're going to die young if you don't stop eating your very favourite foods right now? You probably shouldn't push someone to quit something if you need to quit something yourself
Yes, I agree with what you say Josie, my dad smokes and when I was a kid I suffered a lot from the smoke and he could not care less. He could be taking me to the hospital because I was not breathing and smoking a cigarette in the car if that makes any sense. Was it a cultural situation from that time or he really didn't care?
Well when I was a child it was the norm. People were seriously uninformed back then. I don't know how old you are or where you're from, but it might be something to consider when it comes to how things were done. I have never smoked around my children. I grew up in smokey homes and cars and I remember it well, so it's something I never put on them. It's extremely selfish.. so much worse to force your addictions on others like that. My smoking was my own burden.. only their's because they worried about me. I cared very much about what my addiction could do to them, losing their mother etc, but as I said, the addiction is one with us and a whole separate entity and it cares nothing of anyone else. I did.. but somehow it didn't stop me from smoking. That's a massive part of what addiction is. It clouds everything.
That's the point, if we want to damage our health and spend our money, other people might agree or disagree, but at the end of the day it's our business, but when our smoke is causing harm to others is no longer our business, especially if we are doing harm to kids, that is extremely selfish and those people should realize that.