I understand where you’re comin from. I remember many a cigarette being the “best cigarette of my life.” Don’t take this as a “jump on the bandwagon” post. I don’t want to rub it in, but I want to celebrate my 6th month quitting anniversary by writing a post about pros and cons as I remember them. GO ME! It was tough, I’ll tell you. But it is do-able. If I could quit, anybody could. Write a comment if you need some advice.
Pros of smoking (as a recall):
- relieves the need to have a cigarette
- tastes good
- feels good
- looks sexy
- gives your hand something to do
- gives your mouth something to do (i’m not addicted- my mouth is just bored!)
- no withdrawal!
- gives you a moment to take a break and contemplate things
- alone time
- speeds metabolism and helps lose weight/keep weight off
- helps you concentrate
Cons:
- After-shower smell is gone as soon as you have that after-shower cigarette
- smoke in the eyes
- burn holes on clothes
- hair smells
- breath smells
- get out of breath doing simple things
- COUGH!
- man voice (in women).
- scratchy voice
- clear your throat before you talk
- “Shit, I only have 2 cigarettes left for the night and no money…”
- “Shit, where’s my lighter?”
- “Can I please please please bum a smoke!! I’ll hit you back!”
- feeling isolated
- not being allowed anywhere inside with your filthy habit
- people looking at you negatively… especially little kids.. and knowing they’re right
- those black lung photos
- strep throat, bronchitis, pneumonia, etc.
- MONEY! (I have saved over 1,000 dollars in 6 months and counting)
- watching the clock
- dropping your cigarette while driving… SHIT!!!!
- worrying about your next pack
- driving/walking/biking in the snow at 3 a.m. for a pack
- prices going up and up…
- worrying about a quit date
- being controlled by a drug instead of yourself
- worrying about stretches of work, long movies, plane rides, etc.
- needing to take a break during important things or fun things like poker games.
- yellow teeth
- yellow fingers
- hating cigarettes and smoking and yourself for losing power.
- worrying about blowing smoke in people’s faces
- feeling guilty about all those butts on the ground
- feeling guilty about your non-smoker friends getting smoke in their faces.
- dealing with gross ashtrays.
- feeling gross when you see a garbage full of empty cigarette packs
- Smoking a half-cigarette that is a day old.
I could probably go on and on. When I quit (exactly) 6 months ago, I made a pro/con list. I wanted so badly to find that I had much more pros than cons. If I did, there would be no point in quitting, now would there? Well, I was disappointed when I could only come up with a few pros and a seemingly endless amount of cons. Just something to think about, especially since the economy in changing and shit’s getting pricey. I still have moments where I feel like I should be having a cigarette, and I’m still a smoker at heart. But I definitely feel proud for being an ex-smoker! The point of writing this post is basically to reinforce to myself that I am making the write decision. It definitely helped!
