Quote:
Originally Posted by Hapa1
People who smoke cigarettes will one day regret it! Getting COPD and being on oxygen constantly doesn’t sound like fun. I don’t necessarily want to shame anyone, just warn them of how this may turn out later in life.
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Ok. I'm going to give the real tea here to you and to travis, and anyone else who thinks this kind of thing makes a difference to smokers.
Quick answer: It doesn't do a thing.
Explanation:
Do you know why I started smoking? Because it was "forbidden". Because it was "bad for you". Because it was "looked down on". I was almost 18 years old when I tried my first cigarette. The reason I tried it was for all of the reasons I just listed, and I was rebellious as a teen. Most of my rebelling was about staying out later than I promised, and sneaking out of my room to go somewhere. It was never about drinking copious amounts of alcohol or going to parties or hooking up with people - that was never my thing anyway. But when one of my friends, who had smoked in front of me numerous times, asked me if I wanted to try it, I said "yes". And what happened was I got really light headed. And being light headed made me laugh. I thought it was hilarious. I didn't really smoke much after that. Maybe 5 cigarettes over the course of a year.
Then I was in the military. In basic, it's "total control". You can't even buy candy. We used to buy Luden's cherry flavored cough drops and eat them like candy, just to feel like we got over on the Drill Sgts. I'm sure we didn't, but they couldn't say anything about it, either. Even then, I only smoked once in awhile during training. Maybe a total of 3 cigarettes the entire time. When I got to my permanent duty station, that's when I really started smoking. It was all around me. The sgt that I drove around in the Humvees smoked all the time. He smoked so much that after he took a drag, smoke would come out of his mouth for probably a good 30 seconds while he talked. It was everywhere. I started smoking like some people start drinking coffee in the military. (Never did that, coffee is gross.)
When I got out and was in college, I bummed smokes because I couldn't actually afford any. I averaged about 5 a day. And I could go a day or two or three without, didn't matter.
Then I got out of college, got a job, and had money to smoke. So I did. Do you think, that any time during all of those years that I never heard anything about how unhealthy it was? Do you think I didn't see the warnings on the packs? Do you think I never heard someone talk about how horrible it was for you, you would have health problems later, your lungs this, emphysema that, etc? You think no one ever said that to me or showed me that or pushed it in school?
Some people made comments over the years that I smoked. Do you think that made me stop and think, "Huh. Maybe I shouldn't smoke." No. It made me think, "F off. I bet you do nasty crap that the rest of us have to endure, so go pound sand." Because most people drive cars. What about the crap you're all putting into the air with your car? Don't even stand there and lecture me about jack all unless you're not polluting in any way, shape, or form. Don't even stand there and lecture me about jack all unless you live a very clean, raw, diet, exercise daily, and have reached a level where you don't stress about things, because until you're there, you are also doing things that are bad for your health.
I was always a considerate smoker in that I always walked away from people when I lit up. If I was at a bus stop, I would figure out which way the breeze or wind was blowing and go downwind, away from people. I never smoked in front of kids. I never smoked in restaurants, even when it was allowed, because even though I wanted to after eating, I was aware that others didn't want to smell it while they ate...because even I didn't like the smell when I was eating. So I waited until I could go outside. But it was my choice - it wasn't forced on me.
So what got me to quit, you ask? It wasn't all the nagging and lecturing and fake concerns over my health. I just got tired of it. I got tired of getting up and going to the store. I got tired of days when I didn't want to get up and go to the store, but felt like I had to because I wanted smokes. I would literally think, "Ugh, I don't want to go anywhere. I'm comfortable. But I have to go to the store because I don't have any smokes left." I got tired of that. I got tired of spending my money on it. Even when I could find them cheap, I just got tired of spending my money on it.
In other words, I, and I alone, decided I just didn't want to do it anymore.
"You're going to pay for that someday", dirty looks, fake coughs, nagging, lectures, blah, blah, blah - that doesn't work. It never works. In fact, it's insulting. You are not perfect, you do things that are bad for you, you do things that affect other people, you are not above anyone else just because you don't smoke cigarettes. You are not better. What you all do just turns people off to even caring what you think. In some cases, it can make people act even worse.
Let people find the motivation to quit on their own. That is the ONLY WAY they will ever succeed in quitting. You can't shame them into quitting, you can't lecture them into quitting, you can't "warn" them into quitting, you can't guilt them into quitting....the ONLY WAY someone will ever succeed is if they want to, and it has to be their own reason for wanting to.
Some people may never want to quit. I've seen people with get oxygen who still smoke. That's their choice.
Absolutely nothing you do or say is ever going to get someone else to quit. They have to want to quit. I had tried several times in the past to quit, but I never actually wanted to quit until I did. And do you know what? With the help of a disposable e-cig to use when the craving got bad, I was able to quit, permanently, easily, when I decided that I wanted to, at no pressure from anyone else. The e-cig was used about 3 times a day the first week. About once a day the second week. About once a week the third and fourth week. By the time 2 months rolled around, I realized I didn't even know where my e-cig was.
So back off. You're not actually helping anyone, you're just patting your own back thinking you've done anything. You haven't done anything.
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What did they say that warranted a punch in the face?
