any smokers? come and talk to me about it-i don't understand.

[themildmannneredjanitor]

i didn't want to hijack faq's thread so i will start my own.

basically-why do you do it? how do you sleep at night when you know what it does to you?

i know about the addiction thing but i know some smokers don't want to give it up as they enjoy it too much.

it's bizzarre!!!!!

[[http://www.freewebs.com/soaring_sphincter_travel_agency/smokers%20lungs.jpg this] is a good reason to stop surely?

[themildmannneredjanitor]

this even

[themildmannneredjanitor]

or even this?

[shudder]

[undercovercat]

I used to smoke. I did used to "enjoy" maybe one fag a day. That is ..feel the rush of nictine and it make me go Ahhhhhhhhhhhh
Similar to necking a glass of wine and feeling the stress run out your toes.
The rest of them are just keeping the levels of nicotine up.
Theres a bit o daftness in the I LIKE IT-I want to cut down.
If you like it, why not make more time in the day to cram more in
You ignore ALL of the health warnings. Even if its your own body coughing and SCREAMING at you to stop.

[Tortington]

we know we are going to die.

finding rationale where there is n't any is impossible.

[themildmannneredjanitor]

but does it not make you get that sick anxiety feeling in your stomach?

[Overmydeadbody]

It's an addiction mmj, not really that bizarre.

People do lots of things knowing that it is bad for them. The thing you're forgetting, is that in the short term it makes you feel good and helps you.

I guess you can sleep at night because you don't obsess over the negative effects, and anyway, life always ends in death, no matter what decisions you make or how healthy or unhealthy a lifestyle you lead.

[Aitch]

i don't smoke now but i would, absolutely would, if it wasn't so stinky and dangerous. it's brilliant, absolutely yummy, ooooh with a coffee or red wine. and it makes you more interesting as a person.

[Overmydeadbody]

why would it make you get a sick anxiety feeling in your stomach?

[Aitch]

i did used to switch over from the anti-smoking ads, i do admit. although they were pro-smoking in our house as we'd both light up when they came on.

[Overmydeadbody]

at it makes you more interesting as a person!

It calms your nerves, and for me it helped me feel better and less stressed out in social situations, as it gave me something to focus on.

[LazyLinePainterJane]

For me (am not a smoker any more, gave up 4 years ago after smoking for about 8 years) it was something that I fell into, started socially when drinking. When you are drinking you are certainly not thinking of the health side effects (otherwise why would you be drinking) and then it went from there. At some point you start to need it, feel like you want it and when you get to that point I think your brain starts to put aside all the health stuff, you don't really think about it until you start to want to give up.

I certainly, when I was smoking, never laid awake at night worrying about my lungs, the need and desire for cigarettes totally overwhelmed anything like that. The cigarettes become part of you, you see them as your friend, ridiculously. It's only once you come out the other end that you realise it's like a ball and chain, not a best mate.

[Goober]

I gave up smoking 20 a day 13 months ago.
The risks were in the back of my brain, the addiction spoke louder than the threat of death.
I now hate it and feel proud and smug to be such an anti-smoker.

[Overmydeadbody]

Even now, as an ex-smoker, I sometimes find myself in situations where I tink 'God it would be good to just light up a fag right now'

[anorak]

Aitch, why do you think it makes you more interesting? I don't see that.

[themildmannneredjanitor]

because i think if i was doing something every day that i knew WAS going to kill me, that was massively increasing my risk of cancer, that was cloffing up my arteries and was going to lead to an early death-i just wouldm't be able to sleep at night i don't think. i would be so anxious.

[LazyLinePainterJane]

I never seriously thought "this is going to kill me"...If I was in a pub or something, it would be a joke, calling them "death sticks" or similar.

No sick anxiety feelings at all, I loved it too much then.

[NotQuiteCockney]

I've never been a smoker. But I can see it's a nice way to keep your hands busy, a nice thing to do in the day. (Ok, yes, it's gross and will kill you. Obviously! I'm not about to start! But all that faffing around with lighters and ashtrays, it's good.)

[TheUNITUBER]

Well I gave up years ago but I loved it.

I loved the taste and smell (yes I know it's awful).
I loved the brilliant head rush when I lit the first one of the day.
To this day when I pass a pub by the river in summer I fantasise about getting an outside table, some Pimms and chainsmoking in the sun.

And I know it was disgusting, bad for me, made my fingers yellow, and that it would ultimately have given me a yellow 'tache, clogged my arteries and killed me. But God I loved it. I also (sadly) had a deep-down conviction that smoking made me look cool.

In the end it wasn't the thought of my impending death that made me quit. It was the realisation that when you are over 30, smoking looks quite sad. I would say that it makes people look insecure. I work in the city and can't afford to look insecure. So that is why I quit, and I have stayed stopped because now I have my daughter and want to be around for her, but deep down I still love it.

[Goober]

Smokers think they need to smoke in times of stress, not so.
During this last 13 months my Mum has been diagnosed with cancer and she has since died. The stress is unbearable, but I haven't smoked.

[zephyrcat]

I smoked for about 10 years. As soon as I became pregnant with DD1 I stopped. There was no question of smoking whilst pg. I started again a while after each of the dc's were born but never around them or in the house and I always put an extra jumper on to go out and smoke then take it back off again to come in!

I had a cold about 4 months ago which went straight to my chest and I couldn't bear the thought of smoking. I haven't touched one since. I understand totally the nicotine hit, the de-dtressing moment of lighting up etc but when I think about the kids it pales into insignificance and gives me all the will power I need to not go back there!

[themildmannneredjanitor]

as for 'makes you a more intersting persn?' don't see that at all.
makes you a smellier person certainly!

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

the way that i rationalise it to myself is that my grandma is 80 years old. she has smoked 40 a day and gone through nearly a whole bottle of whisky a day since her twenties. she is fine.

i know its stupid and doesnt mean that i will turn out that way. but the women on my fathers side of the family all smoke and none have smoking related diseases.

those smoking ads have no effect on me as they are telling me things i already know. they just annoy as they have dh there nodding with "ah there see look, look at what you are doing" so i go outside for a fag to get away from it.

[Aitch]

i take it you've never smoked, anorak?

i think there is a certain amount of theatre in a cigarette, when wafted in the right way. it's a fab prop.

plus, when i used to work in offices etc, the smoking room was where all the best fun gobshitey people hung out. tearoom was for poofs.