Snubbing out my cigarettes

I remember the exact moment I became a smoker. I was a junior in college and stressed by the demands of upper-level classes. I had been taking small puffs off my friend’s cigarettes when we took study breaks. I quickly advanced to smoking full cigarettes, and my friend finally asked me, “Why don’t you buy your own pack?”

I considered the choice I was about to make: I could buy a pack and become a smoker, or I could just stop. I bought a pack. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal—I only smoked a few cigarettes a day, usually during some kind of break or car ride. But soon enough, car rides became dull without cigarettes and music. Walking became dull, too. I hated to walk from one class to the next without a cigarette to keep me company. Waiting soon required a cigarette, as did my morning coffee and anytime spent out with friends.

The three or four cigarettes a day that seemed like no big deal soon swelled to about 30 or 40. I studied abroad and relished the cheaper prices and how I could smoke practically anywhere. No one seemed to mind if you lit up on the train or in the hallway at school.

Back home, my smoking didn’t receive a warm welcome.

I found myself having to leave parties or dinners to go smoke outside by myself.  People fanned away the smoke from my burning cigarette and gave me bad looks.

Even if my smoking wasn’t popular, I wasn’t prepared to quit.

I enjoyed smoking, or at least I thought I did. Smoking felt like a stress reliever, though I now realize my troubles didn’t dissolve when I lit up.

Smoking actually caused me great troubles. I smoked for three years, and I was sick all the time. I had a constant sore throat, the flu twice in one year (even though I had a flu shot) and the Chicken Pox. And since I wasn’t expecting the Chicken Pox as an adult, I thought the bloated red marks were just bug bites and scratched away. I now have a few permanent scars.

If the only damage I have from smoking is a few permanent scars, I’ll consider myself lucky. The American Cancer Society reports that smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined. Almost one in five deaths is smoking related.

Cigarette smoking causes at least one-third of all cancer deaths. It is a major cause of cancers of the lung, voice box, oral cavity, throat and esophagus. Smoking is also a contributing cause to the development of cancer in the bladder, pancreas, liver, uterine cervix, kidney, stomach, colon, rectum and some types of leukemia.

I knew smoking was harmful when I first started, but the dangers seemed so distant. And it seems like many other young people feel the same sense of immortality. Almost 23 percent of high school students smoked during the last year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Maybe new smokers are banking on being able to quit before they do too much damage. But quitting is difficult—it took me two tries. On my first try, I went almost two weeks without a cigarette before I caved and bought a fresh pack. My second attempt was sort of chosen for me because I was in the bed with the flu for a week.

Quitting was difficult. I had to readjust my lifestyle to exclude cigarettes. Driving, walking, waiting, drinking coffee, finishing a big meal…all those activities could no longer include a cigarette. For months, I thought about cigarettes on a regular basis and even envied smokers. When I finally broke my addiction, I realized that I could have avoided all of it if I hadn’t bought that one pack and started smoking.

What being a smoker really means
Smoking is usually reserved for tough and glamorous characters in the movies. But in real life, smoking means:
You’re always broke. Most cigarettes average at $5 a pack. Smoke a pack a day for a year and you’ve burned close to $2,000.
You smell and you don’t know it. Smoking damages your sense smell by upsetting circulation and lessening blood flow to nerve endings. Smokers have a stunted sense of smell and usually can’t smell the heavy stench of smoke that follows them everywhere.
You’re out of shape. Cigarettes may suppress appetite or slightly increase metabolism, but smokers lack the lung capacity needed for a good workout. 
You’re all alone. Restaurants and office buildings—even whole states, as in New York—are beginning to ban smoking inside. That means smokers are left on the sidewalk out front by themselves.

How you can help your friends
Anyone who told me to quit smoking made me want to light up out of spite. Especially if the person was overeating or lounging in front of the TV while they discussed my bad habit.

Here’s what you can do to help keep your friends and siblings smoke-free:

If you smoke, quit. You can’t talk about being smoke-free with a cigarette dangling from your mouth.

Don’t allow anyone to smoke in your car, and always eat in the non-smoking section of a restaurant.

Before anyone ever asks, figure out a way to refuse cigarettes if anyone pressures you to try them. Share that refusal with your younger siblings; they’ll know you disprove of it and they’ll be armed with a way to say no.

If you know any ex-smokers, ask them about their experiences with smoking and quitting. Share their stories, especially the uncomfortable moments like having to run out in a blizzard for a pack, with your friends who smoke. Don’t lecture; wait for a good opportunity.

If a friend or relative suffered from a smoking-related illness, discuss their experiences.

Article provided by