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On October 27 2012 23:38 EngrishTeacher wrote:
You really have to WANT to quit in order to quit.
If you're trying to quit out of necessity (i.e., inconvenient living environment, spousal opposition, etc.) then chances are that you will cave into the cravings sooner or later.
Unfortunately for me, I am not part of the latter group. Sometimes when I cough up a big chunk of phlegm with sprinkles of black and dark yellow mixed in, I think about cancer and my decreased athletics performance the next time I light up then consider quitting. However, once that phase is past, I realize that the pleasure smoking gives me simply outweighs its negative effects and I will eventually need a tipping point in order to really quit.
I'm not even addicted I would say; I can go 2 weeks without smoking if I'm going on a camping trip and lots of physical stamina is required, and even now I smoke 5-7 cigarettes per day. But when I'm in a social environment with a group of smokers (and believe me, I have a LOT of smoking social circles because it's China), it's so hard to refuse that cigarette and not light up.
Can anyone convince me to quit smoking? Deep down, I know that being a non-smoker is better for me but when I trying to rationalize quitting smoking I can't really find a good enough reason. The pleasure from the dopamine release, the smoke inhalation and the taste simply seem worth it to me for all its associated health risks and financial impact.
if the pleasure outweighs the negative effects, then you should keep smoking. it seems like the only way for you to stop is for the previous statement to become false. until the day you believe that the negatives outweigh the positives, you will continue to smoke.
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On February 28 2010 16:53 Robinsa wrote:Show nested quote +On February 28 2010 16:47 lokiM wrote:good luck bro! thankfully im not addicted, i only smoke when im schwasted which is right now  That's one of the worst parts with giving up smoking. When you're out drinking everyone has a lit cigarette which makes it almost impossible to resist having just "one" cigarette "only" that night.. ＝） I intend to give up drinking for a month or so while quittin since I know it's going to be impossible otherwise!
just stop drinking too, its even worse (depends on drink)
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On October 27 2012 23:38 EngrishTeacher wrote:
You really have to WANT to quit in order to quit.
If you're trying to quit out of necessity (i.e., inconvenient living environment, spousal opposition, etc.) then chances are that you will cave into the cravings sooner or later.
Unfortunately for me, I am not part of the latter group. Sometimes when I cough up a big chunk of phlegm with sprinkles of black and dark yellow mixed in, I think about cancer and my decreased athletics performance the next time I light up then consider quitting. However, once that phase is past, I realize that the pleasure smoking gives me simply outweighs its negative effects and I will eventually need a tipping point in order to really quit.
I'm not even addicted I would say; I can go 2 weeks without smoking if I'm going on a camping trip and lots of physical stamina is required, and even now I smoke 5-7 cigarettes per day. But when I'm in a social environment with a group of smokers (and believe me, I have a LOT of smoking social circles because it's China), it's so hard to refuse that cigarette and not light up.
Can anyone convince me to quit smoking? Deep down, I know that being a non-smoker is better for me but when I trying to rationalize quitting smoking I can't really find a good enough reason. The pleasure from the dopamine release, the smoke inhalation and the taste simply seem worth it to me for all its associated health risks and financial impact.
The pleasure smoking gives you is an illusion. All it is is you relieving the withdrawl. Did you enjoy smoking before you were addicted? Remember your very first cigarette... I'm willing to bet it wasn't the most pleasant experience. Why did you continue? There are lots of reasons people might do this. For me, it was almost a sort of feeling left out, which is hard to admit through my pride. It makes me sound really weak. Some people continue because they think they are missing out on something - the smoker seems to take so much pleasure in a cigarette. The truth is, the cigarette doesn't give them anything good. All it does is bring them closer to the base-line where they existed as a non smoker - but only temporarily until the nicotine starts to leave the bloodstream. There's also the association of cigarettes with pretty much everything: boredom/concentration, stress/relaxation. You probably have smoked during all of these feelings, and the scary part is that those feelings are opposites. It doesn't matter if you are stressed or relaxed, you'll want a cigarette. Like if you finished an exam or something, and are relieved that it's over, you'll want a cigarette. If you're going into an exam and you are stressed about that, you'll want a cigarette. It's everywhere, and it does nothing for you. If you take out all the inbetween, all cigarettes do is make you want to have another cigarette. That's literally all they do, along with killing you. If you smoke long enough, you can have a cigarette and realize that before you're even finished the cigarette, you want another cigarette. It doesn't make sense to you, because the cigarette was supposed to relax you, and remove the craving, but your body builds a tolerance, and it gets harder and harder to get to base-line. You have to just stop the cycle and return to being a non-smoker, where you aren't enslaved by your desire to smoke. Smoking doesn't make you feel good. It makes you feel like you did before you had an addiction. Free yourself of the addiction. It only takes about 3 weeks for the addiction to go away, and you'll feel amazing, wondering why you ever wanted to smoke at all. Remember, smoking the cigarette just perpetuates the cycle of the shitty feeling when you want your cigarette, whereas NOT smoking the cigarette will free you of that feeling forever.
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On November 01 2012 18:36 KaoReal wrote:Show nested quote +On October 27 2012 23:38 EngrishTeacher wrote:
You really have to WANT to quit in order to quit.
If you're trying to quit out of necessity (i.e., inconvenient living environment, spousal opposition, etc.) then chances are that you will cave into the cravings sooner or later.
Unfortunately for me, I am not part of the latter group. Sometimes when I cough up a big chunk of phlegm with sprinkles of black and dark yellow mixed in, I think about cancer and my decreased athletics performance the next time I light up then consider quitting. However, once that phase is past, I realize that the pleasure smoking gives me simply outweighs its negative effects and I will eventually need a tipping point in order to really quit.
I'm not even addicted I would say; I can go 2 weeks without smoking if I'm going on a camping trip and lots of physical stamina is required, and even now I smoke 5-7 cigarettes per day. But when I'm in a social environment with a group of smokers (and believe me, I have a LOT of smoking social circles because it's China), it's so hard to refuse that cigarette and not light up.
Can anyone convince me to quit smoking? Deep down, I know that being a non-smoker is better for me but when I trying to rationalize quitting smoking I can't really find a good enough reason. The pleasure from the dopamine release, the smoke inhalation and the taste simply seem worth it to me for all its associated health risks and financial impact. The pleasure smoking gives you is an illusion. All it is is you relieving the withdrawl. Did you enjoy smoking before you were addicted? Remember your very first cigarette... I'm willing to bet it wasn't the most pleasant experience. Why did you continue? There are lots of reasons people might do this. For me, it was almost a sort of feeling left out, which is hard to admit through my pride. It makes me sound really weak. Some people continue because they think they are missing out on something - the smoker seems to take so much pleasure in a cigarette. The truth is, the cigarette doesn't give them anything good. All it does is bring them closer to the base-line where they existed as a non smoker - but only temporarily until the nicotine starts to leave the bloodstream. There's also the association of cigarettes with pretty much everything: boredom/concentration, stress/relaxation. You probably have smoked during all of these feelings, and the scary part is that those feelings are opposites. It doesn't matter if you are stressed or relaxed, you'll want a cigarette. Like if you finished an exam or something, and are relieved that it's over, you'll want a cigarette. If you're going into an exam and you are stressed about that, you'll want a cigarette. It's everywhere, and it does nothing for you. If you take out all the inbetween, all cigarettes do is make you want to have another cigarette. That's literally all they do, along with killing you. If you smoke long enough, you can have a cigarette and realize that before you're even finished the cigarette, you want another cigarette. It doesn't make sense to you, because the cigarette was supposed to relax you, and remove the craving, but your body builds a tolerance, and it gets harder and harder to get to base-line. You have to just stop the cycle and return to being a non-smoker, where you aren't enslaved by your desire to smoke. Smoking doesn't make you feel good. It makes you feel like you did before you had an addiction. Free yourself of the addiction. It only takes about 3 weeks for the addiction to go away, and you'll feel amazing, wondering why you ever wanted to smoke at all. Remember, smoking the cigarette just perpetuates the cycle of the shitty feeling when you want your cigarette, whereas NOT smoking the cigarette will free you of that feeling forever.
Well fucking said. Nicely articulated and I hope more people read your post.
Still, I don't think I'm physically addicted yet, only psychologically dependent which is quite different. I still get the nicotine rush and often get a mild dopamine/beta-endorphin euphoria from deep drags if the last cigarette was far apart enough (about 12 hours).
I think I'm going to train myself to smoke more infrequently, because if spaced far enough, smoking is really pleasurable to me whereas during my one pack a day phase each additional cig did almost nothing.
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That's a very slippery slope. I understand the train of thought that you're going through right now, but the physical addiction isn't the hard part. Nicotine withdrawl is actually very easy to deal with. It's the brainwashing associated with it that is so powerful and scary. If you're really interested in the highs, you can get the same (or better) feeling from excercise or accomplishment. Believe me, you don't want to be associating cigarettes with good feelings, because they really don't amount to anything worthwhile. The problem with infrequent smoking is that the more time there is between cigarettes, the more enjoyable they seem. Nicotine leaves the bloodstream in about an hour, so the less you smoke, the more time you spend in nicotine withdrawl. It will be impossible to convince you not to smoke if you aren't ready to shake the phychological addiction, because smokers will rationalize through any amount of logic in order to get their next cigarette. You don't need the next cigarette, and you never have, so just stop while you're ahead.
edit: The analogy that I like for smoking is: Banging your head against a wall for the relief of when you stop. There's nothing pleasurable about a cigarette, it's only the feeling of the withdrawl ending. If you don't bang your head against the wall in the first place, you don't need to worry about stopping to feel good about it.
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On November 01 2012 18:36 KaoReal wrote:Show nested quote +On October 27 2012 23:38 EngrishTeacher wrote:
You really have to WANT to quit in order to quit.
If you're trying to quit out of necessity (i.e., inconvenient living environment, spousal opposition, etc.) then chances are that you will cave into the cravings sooner or later.
Unfortunately for me, I am not part of the latter group. Sometimes when I cough up a big chunk of phlegm with sprinkles of black and dark yellow mixed in, I think about cancer and my decreased athletics performance the next time I light up then consider quitting. However, once that phase is past, I realize that the pleasure smoking gives me simply outweighs its negative effects and I will eventually need a tipping point in order to really quit.
I'm not even addicted I would say; I can go 2 weeks without smoking if I'm going on a camping trip and lots of physical stamina is required, and even now I smoke 5-7 cigarettes per day. But when I'm in a social environment with a group of smokers (and believe me, I have a LOT of smoking social circles because it's China), it's so hard to refuse that cigarette and not light up.
Can anyone convince me to quit smoking? Deep down, I know that being a non-smoker is better for me but when I trying to rationalize quitting smoking I can't really find a good enough reason. The pleasure from the dopamine release, the smoke inhalation and the taste simply seem worth it to me for all its associated health risks and financial impact. The pleasure smoking gives you is an illusion. All it is is you relieving the withdrawl. Did you enjoy smoking before you were addicted? Remember your very first cigarette... I'm willing to bet it wasn't the most pleasant experience. Why did you continue? There are lots of reasons people might do this. For me, it was almost a sort of feeling left out, which is hard to admit through my pride. It makes me sound really weak. Some people continue because they think they are missing out on something - the smoker seems to take so much pleasure in a cigarette. The truth is, the cigarette doesn't give them anything good. All it does is bring them closer to the base-line where they existed as a non smoker - but only temporarily until the nicotine starts to leave the bloodstream. There's also the association of cigarettes with pretty much everything: boredom/concentration, stress/relaxation. You probably have smoked during all of these feelings, and the scary part is that those feelings are opposites. It doesn't matter if you are stressed or relaxed, you'll want a cigarette. Like if you finished an exam or something, and are relieved that it's over, you'll want a cigarette. If you're going into an exam and you are stressed about that, you'll want a cigarette. It's everywhere, and it does nothing for you. If you take out all the inbetween, all cigarettes do is make you want to have another cigarette. That's literally all they do, along with killing you. If you smoke long enough, you can have a cigarette and realize that before you're even finished the cigarette, you want another cigarette. It doesn't make sense to you, because the cigarette was supposed to relax you, and remove the craving, but your body builds a tolerance, and it gets harder and harder to get to base-line. You have to just stop the cycle and return to being a non-smoker, where you aren't enslaved by your desire to smoke. Smoking doesn't make you feel good. It makes you feel like you did before you had an addiction. Free yourself of the addiction. It only takes about 3 weeks for the addiction to go away, and you'll feel amazing, wondering why you ever wanted to smoke at all. Remember, smoking the cigarette just perpetuates the cycle of the shitty feeling when you want your cigarette, whereas NOT smoking the cigarette will free you of that feeling forever.
While that's a great way of thinking about it if you want to quit, it's not true. You get high off of a cigarette. Period. Otherwise, nobody would smoke them. You answered the question yourself--why do people smoke after their first one if it tastes terrible? Because it got them high and activated all the dopamine receptors in their brain.
It is a great way to delude yourself into quitting if the withdrawals were the hard part for you. Cigarette withdrawals are mild as fuck, though. It's like feeling hungry or a little irritated all day. You're not going to be throwing up in a bathroom or lying in bed with your head spinning, cursing the world for nicotine. Man the fuck up. Smoke if you're going to smoke; quit if you're going to quit. None of this pussy-ass "I'm having a hard time quitting" bullshit. If that's really the case, thank whatever higher power you believe in that you don't have an addiction with strong withdrawals.
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On November 02 2012 04:14 KaoReal wrote:
edit: The analogy that I like for smoking is: Banging your head against a wall for the relief of when you stop. There's nothing pleasurable about a cigarette, it's only the feeling of the withdrawl ending. If you don't bang your head against the wall in the first place, you don't need to worry about stopping to feel good about it.
That book is a great way to brainwash yourself into quitting, but it's not true in a scientific sense. It is effective at helping people to quit, though. Bull fucking shit there's nothing pleasurable about a cigarette. Have you ever smoked one?
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On November 02 2012 05:42 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote:Show nested quote +On November 01 2012 18:36 KaoReal wrote:On October 27 2012 23:38 EngrishTeacher wrote:
You really have to WANT to quit in order to quit.
If you're trying to quit out of necessity (i.e., inconvenient living environment, spousal opposition, etc.) then chances are that you will cave into the cravings sooner or later.
Unfortunately for me, I am not part of the latter group. Sometimes when I cough up a big chunk of phlegm with sprinkles of black and dark yellow mixed in, I think about cancer and my decreased athletics performance the next time I light up then consider quitting. However, once that phase is past, I realize that the pleasure smoking gives me simply outweighs its negative effects and I will eventually need a tipping point in order to really quit.
I'm not even addicted I would say; I can go 2 weeks without smoking if I'm going on a camping trip and lots of physical stamina is required, and even now I smoke 5-7 cigarettes per day. But when I'm in a social environment with a group of smokers (and believe me, I have a LOT of smoking social circles because it's China), it's so hard to refuse that cigarette and not light up.
Can anyone convince me to quit smoking? Deep down, I know that being a non-smoker is better for me but when I trying to rationalize quitting smoking I can't really find a good enough reason. The pleasure from the dopamine release, the smoke inhalation and the taste simply seem worth it to me for all its associated health risks and financial impact. The pleasure smoking gives you is an illusion. All it is is you relieving the withdrawl. Did you enjoy smoking before you were addicted? Remember your very first cigarette... I'm willing to bet it wasn't the most pleasant experience. Why did you continue? There are lots of reasons people might do this. For me, it was almost a sort of feeling left out, which is hard to admit through my pride. It makes me sound really weak. Some people continue because they think they are missing out on something - the smoker seems to take so much pleasure in a cigarette. The truth is, the cigarette doesn't give them anything good. All it does is bring them closer to the base-line where they existed as a non smoker - but only temporarily until the nicotine starts to leave the bloodstream. There's also the association of cigarettes with pretty much everything: boredom/concentration, stress/relaxation. You probably have smoked during all of these feelings, and the scary part is that those feelings are opposites. It doesn't matter if you are stressed or relaxed, you'll want a cigarette. Like if you finished an exam or something, and are relieved that it's over, you'll want a cigarette. If you're going into an exam and you are stressed about that, you'll want a cigarette. It's everywhere, and it does nothing for you. If you take out all the inbetween, all cigarettes do is make you want to have another cigarette. That's literally all they do, along with killing you. If you smoke long enough, you can have a cigarette and realize that before you're even finished the cigarette, you want another cigarette. It doesn't make sense to you, because the cigarette was supposed to relax you, and remove the craving, but your body builds a tolerance, and it gets harder and harder to get to base-line. You have to just stop the cycle and return to being a non-smoker, where you aren't enslaved by your desire to smoke. Smoking doesn't make you feel good. It makes you feel like you did before you had an addiction. Free yourself of the addiction. It only takes about 3 weeks for the addiction to go away, and you'll feel amazing, wondering why you ever wanted to smoke at all. Remember, smoking the cigarette just perpetuates the cycle of the shitty feeling when you want your cigarette, whereas NOT smoking the cigarette will free you of that feeling forever. While that's a great way of thinking about it if you want to quit, it's not true. You get high off of a cigarette. Period. Otherwise, nobody would smoke them. You answered the question yourself--why do people smoke after their first one if it tastes terrible? Because it got them high and activated all the dopamine receptors in their brain. It is a great way to delude yourself into quitting if the withdrawals were the hard part for you. Cigarette withdrawals are mild as fuck, though. It's like feeling hungry or a little irritated all day. You're not going to be throwing up in a bathroom or lying in bed with your head spinning, cursing the world for nicotine. Man the fuck up. Smoke if you're going to smoke; quit if you're going to quit. None of this pussy-ass "I'm having a hard time quitting" bullshit. If that's really the case, thank whatever higher power you believe in that you don't have an addiction with strong withdrawals.
Sure, chemical releases happen in your brain when you smoke. But did you really feel "high" when you smoked your first cigarette? I'm willing to bet you felt pretty sick, maybe dizzy and nauseous. It wasn't a good feeling, but you were convinced that there must be something good about it, because other people are doing it all the time, and seem rewarded by it. The fact is, there isn't anything enjoyable about a cigarette, except the perception of pleasure caused by withdrawl relief. It doesn't taste good, it deprives you of oxygen, and it's flat out poisonous. Saying that cigarettes get you high is a really weak excuse. If you think cigarettes are actually getting you high in a significant way, I'd hate to see your reaction to drugs that get you high in a perceptible way.
That book is a great way to brainwash yourself into quitting, but it's not true in a scientific sense. It is effective at helping people to quit, though. Bull fucking shit there's nothing pleasurable about a cigarette. Have you ever smoked one?
I've smoked for eleven years, and I think the book is spot-on about the pleasure we get from smoking - it's an illusion created by withdrawl. I didn't enjoy my first cigarette, and I don't think ANYONE did, in a genuine sense. Some people might have enjoyed the giddy excitement shared with friends, and all that sort of stuff, but the OBJECTIVE experience of smoking a cigarette is just plain awful.
I can't convince anyone of anything if they aren't willing to believe it, but the logic in this book is just so resoundingly true that I couldn't just ignore it. Why smoke? There's no reason.
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On November 01 2012 23:18 EngrishTeacher wrote:Show nested quote +On November 01 2012 18:36 KaoReal wrote:On October 27 2012 23:38 EngrishTeacher wrote:
You really have to WANT to quit in order to quit.
If you're trying to quit out of necessity (i.e., inconvenient living environment, spousal opposition, etc.) then chances are that you will cave into the cravings sooner or later.
Unfortunately for me, I am not part of the latter group. Sometimes when I cough up a big chunk of phlegm with sprinkles of black and dark yellow mixed in, I think about cancer and my decreased athletics performance the next time I light up then consider quitting. However, once that phase is past, I realize that the pleasure smoking gives me simply outweighs its negative effects and I will eventually need a tipping point in order to really quit.
I'm not even addicted I would say; I can go 2 weeks without smoking if I'm going on a camping trip and lots of physical stamina is required, and even now I smoke 5-7 cigarettes per day. But when I'm in a social environment with a group of smokers (and believe me, I have a LOT of smoking social circles because it's China), it's so hard to refuse that cigarette and not light up.
Can anyone convince me to quit smoking? Deep down, I know that being a non-smoker is better for me but when I trying to rationalize quitting smoking I can't really find a good enough reason. The pleasure from the dopamine release, the smoke inhalation and the taste simply seem worth it to me for all its associated health risks and financial impact. The pleasure smoking gives you is an illusion. All it is is you relieving the withdrawl. Did you enjoy smoking before you were addicted? Remember your very first cigarette... I'm willing to bet it wasn't the most pleasant experience. Why did you continue? There are lots of reasons people might do this. For me, it was almost a sort of feeling left out, which is hard to admit through my pride. It makes me sound really weak. Some people continue because they think they are missing out on something - the smoker seems to take so much pleasure in a cigarette. The truth is, the cigarette doesn't give them anything good. All it does is bring them closer to the base-line where they existed as a non smoker - but only temporarily until the nicotine starts to leave the bloodstream. There's also the association of cigarettes with pretty much everything: boredom/concentration, stress/relaxation. You probably have smoked during all of these feelings, and the scary part is that those feelings are opposites. It doesn't matter if you are stressed or relaxed, you'll want a cigarette. Like if you finished an exam or something, and are relieved that it's over, you'll want a cigarette. If you're going into an exam and you are stressed about that, you'll want a cigarette. It's everywhere, and it does nothing for you. If you take out all the inbetween, all cigarettes do is make you want to have another cigarette. That's literally all they do, along with killing you. If you smoke long enough, you can have a cigarette and realize that before you're even finished the cigarette, you want another cigarette. It doesn't make sense to you, because the cigarette was supposed to relax you, and remove the craving, but your body builds a tolerance, and it gets harder and harder to get to base-line. You have to just stop the cycle and return to being a non-smoker, where you aren't enslaved by your desire to smoke. Smoking doesn't make you feel good. It makes you feel like you did before you had an addiction. Free yourself of the addiction. It only takes about 3 weeks for the addiction to go away, and you'll feel amazing, wondering why you ever wanted to smoke at all. Remember, smoking the cigarette just perpetuates the cycle of the shitty feeling when you want your cigarette, whereas NOT smoking the cigarette will free you of that feeling forever. Well fucking said. Nicely articulated and I hope more people read your post. Still, I don't think I'm physically addicted yet, only psychologically dependent which is quite different. I still get the nicotine rush and often get a mild dopamine/beta-endorphin euphoria from deep drags if the last cigarette was far apart enough (about 12 hours). I think I'm going to train myself to smoke more infrequently, because if spaced far enough, smoking is really pleasurable to me whereas during my one pack a day phase each additional cig did almost nothing. Soooo true, the only Cig i feel is the first one of the day...
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On November 02 2012 07:30 KaoReal wrote:Show nested quote +On November 02 2012 05:42 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote:On November 01 2012 18:36 KaoReal wrote:On October 27 2012 23:38 EngrishTeacher wrote:
You really have to WANT to quit in order to quit.
If you're trying to quit out of necessity (i.e., inconvenient living environment, spousal opposition, etc.) then chances are that you will cave into the cravings sooner or later.
Unfortunately for me, I am not part of the latter group. Sometimes when I cough up a big chunk of phlegm with sprinkles of black and dark yellow mixed in, I think about cancer and my decreased athletics performance the next time I light up then consider quitting. However, once that phase is past, I realize that the pleasure smoking gives me simply outweighs its negative effects and I will eventually need a tipping point in order to really quit.
I'm not even addicted I would say; I can go 2 weeks without smoking if I'm going on a camping trip and lots of physical stamina is required, and even now I smoke 5-7 cigarettes per day. But when I'm in a social environment with a group of smokers (and believe me, I have a LOT of smoking social circles because it's China), it's so hard to refuse that cigarette and not light up.
Can anyone convince me to quit smoking? Deep down, I know that being a non-smoker is better for me but when I trying to rationalize quitting smoking I can't really find a good enough reason. The pleasure from the dopamine release, the smoke inhalation and the taste simply seem worth it to me for all its associated health risks and financial impact. The pleasure smoking gives you is an illusion. All it is is you relieving the withdrawl. Did you enjoy smoking before you were addicted? Remember your very first cigarette... I'm willing to bet it wasn't the most pleasant experience. Why did you continue? There are lots of reasons people might do this. For me, it was almost a sort of feeling left out, which is hard to admit through my pride. It makes me sound really weak. Some people continue because they think they are missing out on something - the smoker seems to take so much pleasure in a cigarette. The truth is, the cigarette doesn't give them anything good. All it does is bring them closer to the base-line where they existed as a non smoker - but only temporarily until the nicotine starts to leave the bloodstream. There's also the association of cigarettes with pretty much everything: boredom/concentration, stress/relaxation. You probably have smoked during all of these feelings, and the scary part is that those feelings are opposites. It doesn't matter if you are stressed or relaxed, you'll want a cigarette. Like if you finished an exam or something, and are relieved that it's over, you'll want a cigarette. If you're going into an exam and you are stressed about that, you'll want a cigarette. It's everywhere, and it does nothing for you. If you take out all the inbetween, all cigarettes do is make you want to have another cigarette. That's literally all they do, along with killing you. If you smoke long enough, you can have a cigarette and realize that before you're even finished the cigarette, you want another cigarette. It doesn't make sense to you, because the cigarette was supposed to relax you, and remove the craving, but your body builds a tolerance, and it gets harder and harder to get to base-line. You have to just stop the cycle and return to being a non-smoker, where you aren't enslaved by your desire to smoke. Smoking doesn't make you feel good. It makes you feel like you did before you had an addiction. Free yourself of the addiction. It only takes about 3 weeks for the addiction to go away, and you'll feel amazing, wondering why you ever wanted to smoke at all. Remember, smoking the cigarette just perpetuates the cycle of the shitty feeling when you want your cigarette, whereas NOT smoking the cigarette will free you of that feeling forever. While that's a great way of thinking about it if you want to quit, it's not true. You get high off of a cigarette. Period. Otherwise, nobody would smoke them. You answered the question yourself--why do people smoke after their first one if it tastes terrible? Because it got them high and activated all the dopamine receptors in their brain. It is a great way to delude yourself into quitting if the withdrawals were the hard part for you. Cigarette withdrawals are mild as fuck, though. It's like feeling hungry or a little irritated all day. You're not going to be throwing up in a bathroom or lying in bed with your head spinning, cursing the world for nicotine. Man the fuck up. Smoke if you're going to smoke; quit if you're going to quit. None of this pussy-ass "I'm having a hard time quitting" bullshit. If that's really the case, thank whatever higher power you believe in that you don't have an addiction with strong withdrawals. Sure, chemical releases happen in your brain when you smoke. But did you really feel "high" when you smoked your first cigarette? I'm willing to bet you felt pretty sick, maybe dizzy and nauseous. It wasn't a good feeling, but you were convinced that there must be something good about it, because other people are doing it all the time, and seem rewarded by it. The fact is, there isn't anything enjoyable about a cigarette, except the perception of pleasure caused by withdrawl relief. It doesn't taste good, it deprives you of oxygen, and it's flat out poisonous. Saying that cigarettes get you high is a really weak excuse. If you think cigarettes are actually getting you high in a significant way, I'd hate to see your reaction to drugs that get you high in a perceptible way. Show nested quote +
That book is a great way to brainwash yourself into quitting, but it's not true in a scientific sense. It is effective at helping people to quit, though. Bull fucking shit there's nothing pleasurable about a cigarette. Have you ever smoked one?
I've smoked for eleven years, and I think the book is spot-on about the pleasure we get from smoking - it's an illusion created by withdrawl. I didn't enjoy my first cigarette, and I don't think ANYONE did, in a genuine sense. Some people might have enjoyed the giddy excitement shared with friends, and all that sort of stuff, but the OBJECTIVE experience of smoking a cigarette is just plain awful. I can't convince anyone of anything if they aren't willing to believe it, but the logic in this book is just so resoundingly true that I couldn't just ignore it. Why smoke? There's no reason.
Sorry - I'm all for people quitting smoking but this is a terrible line of argument.
Did you like your first beer, your first scotch?
The first time you went for a run, or lifted weights - was that the best feeling in the world? You can even use your own descriptions of nausea and dizziness to explain what first time for many things feel like. How does that give value to the activity in itself?
First time you asked a girl out on a date? By your logic I should never do it again as I felt so nervous the first time I almost threw up.
Smoking is bad. It will shorten your life. It will lower the quality of your life if you become addicted. That doesn't mean you have to sell your intelligence short in order to avoid the habit. Scare tactics and extremes may work for dissuading children from taking up bad habits but please give adults some respect in their ability to form intelligible conclusions.
Why smoke? If you can't understand why people seek pleasure then my question to you is why live?
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Great articulated arguments, and I am making the choice to end my habit for multiple reasons.
First and foremost, I want to feel healthy again, and begin an exercise routine which wont be hindered by this habit.
Secondly, financially smoking has put a burden on the wallet.
While I still feel that I enjoy the experience smoking brings, I know that it is not the right choice for me.
So goodbye to manufactured cigarettes, its been a weird 3 years, such a love/hate relationship.
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you can quit smoking if you read and understand the following:
you KNOW that ultimately you will have quit smoking. it is just, plainly, something you HAVE to do. something that WILL happen. it simply is a certainty. sometime in future years you WILL have quit smoking and be looking back at this moment. because it is a FACT that you will quit at some point in your life. in the meantime, you are just waiting for that moment to occur.
if you know "deep down" that you need/want to quit smoking, then you also realise that "deep down" you are just afraid to confront this. you dont quite have the mental strength to do it yet. you are okay just keeping smoking for now, with that nagging worry that you know you should be quitting, but you cant quite do anything about it yet.
after reading those paragraphs you should understand two things:
from paragraph 1:
you will definitely quit at some point, its a simple fact; you're basically just waiting for it to happen
from paragraph 2:
you are not strong enough to quit yet, so you're actually waiting until you are mentally strong enough to quit
what does this mean!? it means a few things.
first, you dont need to keep beating yourself up about the fact that you're smoking. you know that you will quit when you are strong enough to do so. you aren't quite strong enough right now, so there's no reason to feel bad that you're smoking!
second, most importantly, it means: Get ready. Be aware. one day in the future, maybe even just weeks away from now, you will suddenly realise that you have the mental strength to quit smoking. it could be that your emotions are suddenly balanced in a particular way, that a rare combination of events occurs to put you in that frame of mind, or even that you wake up one day and just randomly feel that today wouldn't be such a bad day to quit smoking.
Get ready, because this day will come, and you will feel it coming, and when it does you will need to remember what you know as a fact: you WILL quit smoking in your life. you are just waiting for the strength, on one fine day, to do so.
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I've read a lot of the comments and advice in the thread and I'm glad I did. I quit smoking for four years, then foolishly took it back up again about two years ago. I really want to quit for good this time and I'm hopeful I can achieve it. Good luck to everyone else trying to do the same.
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On November 02 2012 07:30 KaoReal wrote:Show nested quote +
That book is a great way to brainwash yourself into quitting, but it's not true in a scientific sense. It is effective at helping people to quit, though. Bull fucking shit there's nothing pleasurable about a cigarette. Have you ever smoked one?
I've smoked for eleven years, and I think the book is spot-on about the pleasure we get from smoking - it's an illusion created by withdrawl. I didn't enjoy my first cigarette, and I don't think ANYONE did, in a genuine sense. Some people might have enjoyed the giddy excitement shared with friends, and all that sort of stuff, but the OBJECTIVE experience of smoking a cigarette is just plain awful. I can't convince anyone of anything if they aren't willing to believe it, but the logic in this book is just so resoundingly true that I couldn't just ignore it. Why smoke? There's no reason.
That's not what the word objective means. Whether or not I enjoy something, and my reasons for doing so, are inherently subjective - because it's ME that's enjoying it, not you.
As someone who smoked weed for quite a while before ever trying a cigarette, I was already pretty used to the sensation of smoking when I tried my first cigarette and I totally enjoyed it. It was just smoking something I wasn't used to rather than smoking for my first time so it wasn't awful at all. I still enjoy the experience of smoking (both weed and cigarettes) - saying that's objectively not true is just not understanding what subjectivity means.
EDIT: That being said, best of luck to you in your efforts to quit guys! It's not a good habit, and while I'm not actively trying to quit I know I probably should (and will when I stop working in a restaurant lol). Hope this works out for you!
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Is it really a year since the last post here? Bumping because it's too good initiative to forget and anyway almost 2.5 years now cigarette free here  as always good luck everybody you can do it too.
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Bumping because I'm trying to quit smoking and I don't know how you stop smoking and not gain a fuckton of weight. Not even 4 hours since the last meal and I'm so fucking hungry.
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My wife just picked smoking back up again...
She quit for two years (pregnant + 1 year breastfeeding).
Now she's back to smoking again *facepalm*. Whatever can't force her not to smoke.
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Yeah, It's definitely true that you can't force someone to quit. I tried for a long time with my girlfriend. She recently decided to try this laser acupuncture thing that worked for my aunt; lo and behold, she is now more than three weeks without. I'm not sure how much of the procedure was actually smoking related, or how much of it was placebo, but they explain that the acupuncture itself comes with fairly long lasting relaxation and mood elation, which I can definitely see as something that would help with quitting, given that the person has the mental resolve and determination to remember that this is permanent, a new way of life. One slip can mean relapse, but luckily, there is no reason for that slip. There is no reason to prefer smoking.
I'm about 18 months quit now, cooking in restaurants the whole time (my first day quit was on a busy Friday with new staff; don't wait for the "right time", make it the right time), and I have to say, it's done wonders for my appreciation for food.
I took up a culinary apprenticeship, which I don't think I would have done without this newly found deeper appreciation for food. I've also been working out the whole time, which was something I did very inconsistently at best when I was still a smoker.
I feel compelled to address my previous arguments, even though it's been over a year...
Did you like your first beer, your first scotch?
Well, no, but I feel like alcohol is in the same boat as cigarettes: a substance, that if consumed, causes a short-lasting chemical effect on your brain that is addicting, but holds many detrimental long-term effects. Working out and asking a girl out are different examples; neither of them are a substance to be consumed, and, in my experience, offer very different good and bad feelings. The exhaustion and soreness from working out and the nervousness before asking a girl out aren't comparable to the nauseous sickly feeling that cigarettes give. These are both feelings that, when conquered, offer feelings of accomplishment (success or fail, you tried) and long lasting benefits to your mental and/or physical well-being. Cigarettes on the other hand, feel bad and then make you feel worse. Your first cigarette will feel bad and kills you, your first workout/date might feel bad, but will make you stronger. I guess I should have said that if it feels bad and kills you, don't do it. The "and kills you", I left out from my previous argument, so I understand why it might have seemed like I was selling short. Kind of seems like a no-brainer, but that is the adult-friendly "intelligible conclusion" that I get from my own analysis of the situation.
Familiarity can definitely be seductive. I, too, found it much easier to take up smoking after being a weed-smoker for a while. Before that, I couldn't bring myself to smoke a second cigarette. Weed, on the other hand, took me a few times to get high, but I knew there was something that I was aiming for. There was a goal in mind (get high). With cigarettes, there was no light at the end of the tunnel, seducing me to continue. It was the familiarity that got me. Familiarity with the act of smoking, as well as with seeing familiar faces of fellow smokers/tokers. It came with a comradery that was alluring to me, being somewhat of a loner. I felt for a long time a feeling of being on the outside looking in when viewing smokers, but now I realize that there is no benefit to being "in there"; it's more like a prison than anything.
By the way, working in restaurants is all the more reason to quit. You can really taste food that being served, and the extra time you get by not needing smoke breaks helps. The stress reduction from not having the craving nagging at you is also really beneficial. I find myself much calmer in the shit-storm that is service time. I love being an ex-smoker in a restaurant!
P.S. I definitely misused subjective/objective there. I think a more accurate way to phrase my argument would be to replace "OBJECTIVE" with "actual". The actual experience of smoking a cigarette is just plain awful, addiction considerations withheld.
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I did it!
I tried twice before, I managed to not smoke for a month or so. This time, I promised my girlfriend, I swore our relationship on it, and man, I feel so good! No craving whatsoever, or anything, and now I've been a month clean. It feels really good, I really think I've gotten it through my head that smoking will yield no benefits, and I think it's really getting me to stop. Quite sad it took this much... I wish I never started, and I've only been smoking for 3 years, so I know it's not all that much, but it's nice to be done with it once and for all.
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On April 21 2014 22:59 Djagulingu wrote:
Bumping because I'm trying to quit smoking and I don't know how you stop smoking and not gain a fuckton of weight. Not even 4 hours since the last meal and I'm so fucking hungry.
People usually put on weight after they stop
It goes away after a week or two from my personal experience though.
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EPT
