I smoked for one year, my senior year of college. When I decided that I didn't want to smoke any longer, I came up with my plan:
1. I would not "bum" cigarettes from anyone else; i.e., I would give up smoking all cigarettes, not just my own cigarettes.
2. Each and every time that I wanted a cigarette, I went down to the dorm basement where the cigarette machines were. I would buy one pack, take out one cigarette, and throw the rest of the pack in the chute to the trash. These chutes led directly to a bin in the bowels of the building and there was no way I knew of to retrieve anything from the bin. I would smoke that one cigarette, and that was that. When I wanted another, I would have to buy another pack. Even at cigarette prices in the 60s, this was a very expensive way to smoke and I was a poor college student. My smoking soon came to a screeching halt.
Now, before my daughters tell on me, when we lived in Florida, another neighbor and I helped each other wallpaper rooms. We drank coffee and ate coffee cake in the mornings; we had sandwiches and soda for lunch; and if we were still papering at dinner time, we had one cigarette apiece and switched to drinking beer. A good time was had by all and the wallpaper generally looked pretty good.
To this day, I sometimes really, really crave a cigarette. I am one of those few people who enjoy second-hand smoke. But I have convinced myself that one cigarette will cause me to have a heart attack or some other dire medical emergency, and I have resisted bumming one from any smokers I might be around. On my first trip to Paris, as I was standing in line to get in the Louvre, a very nervous young woman was asking if anyone had a cigarette she could have. I told her there was plenty of smoke in the air (the French do love to smoke) but she said that was not enough.
It is for me!
2 comments:
my highschool trip to France is where I became a second hand smoker. I still love second hand smoke, but have convinced myself that even occasional second hand smoke is going to give me lung cancer and I'll die. Like Superman's wife.
When I finally quit my pack a day habit (14 years ago next month) I got a tattoo to celebrate and told myself If I ever start again I have to have it removed, which is way expensive.
I miss it a lot still but it will kill me (family history of brain cancer, high blood pressure, stroke etc) so I don't do it. If I am ever diagnosed with a terminal disease I will start again immediately. Might as well go out happy
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