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!

We all have psychological disorders on some level. Lots of little kids have weird OCD tendencies but they disappear for most kids as soon as they get older and get made fun of. For others, unfortunately, the disorder is innate (genetically?) and they can’t consciously “quit” their ticks. Some count their steps or tap something with their right hand if they tap that something first with their left hand, to “even it out.” OCD is an anxiety disorder. You can say, “Joe, just stop turning the door knob 15 times! How about once?” or “Allison, just STOP washing your hands! It’s not that hard! Just don’t do it!” It’s not that easy. On the same level, you can’t just tell an anorexic to just “eat something, for god’s sake” or tell somebody who is morbidly obese to just lay off the calories. For some, it’s impossible.

 

Is cracking your knuckles a form of OCD? Biting your nails? OCD is an anxiety disorder. If Joe turns the doorknob 14 times, he feels incredibly anxious. He just has to turn it the 15^th time. What if he doesn’t? He will! Because it’s the only relief for this horribly crippling anxiety! Is smoking an anxiety disorder? Drug addiction? Alcoholism? I think so. Try telling a smoker to just “stop smoking then! If you hate it, then just don’t have another one!” Good luck with that. (Although you may have better luck now since the price of cigarettes in Suffolk County, Long Island just got raised to $6.50 and $8.50 in NYC.) 

 

One of the most strange and fascinating disorders is hoarding. For those of you who don’t know about it, hoarding is a form of OCD where somebody has intense anxiety about their possessions and they collect a ton of shit and never throw any of it out. What many people don’t know about is animal hoarding. When my 7th grade science teacher got busted for having tons of animals (dead, alive, and some barely alive) in his house and living in feces, I thought he was just being cruel to animals. I cannot believe there’s more than one person out there who has that disease! I guess I should have figured there was a relationship between Mr. Balsamo and the crazy cat ladies you see on the news who won’t let the authorities take away their precious cats. 

 

There’s a fine line between abnormal and normal. Check the DSM-IV-TR. It’s a clinical guide to psychological disorders. You’re in there.