But seriously, absolutely never will smoke. It tastes like crap, smells like crap, makes you look stupid and it will eventually kill you of less-than-painful illnesses. I'm sorry, but you are absolutely stupid if you smoke. Plain and simple. I made my mum quit because I didn't want her to kill herself. If you have kids and you smoke, you're even more selfish and don't deserve to have them. You'll end up burdening them with having to look after you as you slowly waste away, for no apparant reason. You're an adult, so don't use the excuse of addiction. There's noone forcing you to do it, and if you really want to, you can give up easily. I'm probably sounding very controversial, but I don't care. Smoking is like continually beating your head in with a brick until you give yourself brain damage. It's along the same lines.
That's the downside of it. But don't judge people because they smoke.
You've been lucky enough to be raised in a semi-rural area where you play a lot of sports and in general lead a healthy life. The urban kids usually don't have as much chances of spending their time in open fields, and it's not rare for them to start smoking at an early age as something to do. Once they do that and get hooked, they're in it pretty much for life, or at least until they can give it up through a good effort.
I'll be the first to say that the first time you smoke, it does indeed taste horrible; you gag on the smoke and feel like puking... and you spend most of the puffing time dizzy as hell. But through peer pressure and just because you want to do it, you keep trying to get it done. Eventually, you'd master it and be a 'good smoker' (not spitting often, inhlaing the smoke without choking, being able to talk before throwing out the smoke, etc.) and it's all these things which make you enjoy the cigarette with your friends.
And to be honest, I used to really like smoking. The feeling of when the nicotine enters your brain... you get a feeling of well-being that's unavailable with any other legal drug. The after-lunch cigarette, the after-sex cigarette, the bathroom-cigarette, the coffee-cigarette... they're all places and occasions where a cigarette just completed the experience.
To a certain point, those cigarettes were so enjoyable I'd eat more times so I could enjoy more after-meal cigarettes. I'd do
it more often so I could enjoy the after-sex cigarette (even if I wheezed the whole time) and so on.
Giving up is
not easy. Some people have been lucky enough to be able to do it cold turkey, but it's not the norm. Keep in mind, people who smoke
are addicted, and the addiction feels
so good, they don't feel like they're harming themselves as much as if you drink alcohol, walk through a busy street or live with someone who smokes.
One of the hardest points for me about quitting smoking were those after-something cigarettes. I couldn't go to the bathroom for about 4 days because I absolutely had to smoke... I'd been doing so for 12 years! Now think of the people who have been doing it for more than double that time. It's very, very hard.
It took me about a year and a half to completely give it up. And I
never smoked in that year and a half. I'm talking about leaving the addiction. My method was a bit unorthodox, but it worked. My wife tried the same one and she's still smoking. So again, everyone's different.
And once I gave it up I used to look down on smokers and make fun of the whiners who say they can't quit. But I was one of them, and it's very easy to say 'it's easy to quit' when you're not addicted.
Man, I was just going to flame you for making a stupid assumption and look, I wrote an "Opinions-Forum" speech. Oh well, kepp it in mind for next time.
All hail King Roo.
