Why would/did you start smoking cigarettes?

[dtbog]

Reading the other thread about cigarettes made me think again about starting smoking, and why anyone would do it.

I understand that once you start, cigarettes are very addictive, and I'm not trivializing the crave to satisfy an addiction. However, I don't have this addiction because I never started in the first place.

The reason that I never started was not some mature foresight -- it was simply because I don't see the appeal. Drugs get you high, alcohol gets you drunk -- so for better or for worse, I tried these because I wanted to see what "getting drunk" or "getting high" is like. I can't say the same for cigarettes... anyone care to enlighten me?

[nothumb]

To be cool and bang bitches.

End of thread.

NT

[einbert]

The better question might be why do people keep doing it, especially intelligent people.

People try new things for a million different reasons. Everyone experiments. Some people learn from their past mistakes, and others keep repeating the same old ones.

[Sponger15SB]

Because you ain't cool unless you die of lung cancer.

[ChoicestHops]

[ QUOTE ]
The better question might be why do people keep doing it, especially intelligent people.

[/ QUOTE ]

...

[einbert]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The better question might be why do people keep doing it, especially intelligent people.

[/ QUOTE ]

...

[/ QUOTE ]

So I guess you are saying "duh, nicotine"?

Sure, that is one factore. But I have been addicted (either psychologically or physically) to things in the past and have managed to get over them, although sometimes it was difficult. It's a matter of recognizing "this isn't the best thing for me to be doing, the costs outweigh the benefits" and making a decision to stop.

Maybe I just won't understand until I am really 'addicted' to something like alcohol or nicotine, but I have experienced addiction in the past before. I have some idea of what it is about, although maybe I don't see the entire picture.

[ChoicestHops]

What have you been addicted to before?

[gulebjorn]

[ QUOTE ]
To be cool and bang bitches.

End of thread.

NT

[/ QUOTE ]

[dtbog]

[ QUOTE ]
To be cool and bang bitches.

End of thread.

NT

[/ QUOTE ]

Kidding aside, I think this is really the conclusion; those bullshit ads actually worked on a percentage of the population that is far larger than I would have ever imagined.

[einbert]

[ QUOTE ]
What have you been addicted to before?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been addicted to emotional stimulation from people, emotional dependence on people, I've developed some chemical dependencies as well (alcohol, some others).

For example for a while I got so used to taking a shot of nyquil every night before I went to sleep (I did this for several weeks running), that I couldn't get to sleep for hours without it. That was a pretty tough addiction to overcome, physically painful as well. I guess this does contradict my original post in that it is a sort of "alcohol addiction". Although luckily this one never lasted over a long period of time.

And yes, of course it is possible that my genetics have simply worked out where I am less susceptible to chemical addiction than other people. But I have experienced it before, and I still fail to understand how someone can continue doing something so harmful to themselves for years and years without stopping and doing something about it.

My total philosphy on life revolves around the following:
If you can't control it, don't worry about it.
If you can control it, do everything in your power to make life easier and better for yourself.

There are a lot of things I can't control in life, and I don't worry about them. Whether or not I spend my hard earned money and throw away years of my life with cigarrettes, however, is something I can and will control. And whether you want to admit it or not, you can control that aspect of your own life as well.