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From: fish@ihu1g.UUCP (Bob Fishell)
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.misc,net.religion,net.med
Subject: Re: Why Smoke?
Message-ID: <432@ihu1g.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 13-Jun-84 15:02:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihu1g.432
Posted: Wed Jun 13 15:02:42 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Jun-84 00:38:53 EDT
References: <269@ihu1e.UUCP> <144@plx.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 53

(oo) <- a healthy set of lungs....

Nice horror story, John, but you've made the mistake of projecting
your own experiences on others.  Just because you had a horrible
time kicking, there's no reason to assume everybody does.  I'll
try to relate my own experiences:

I started smoking at age 17 for the usual stupid reasons.  At the time,
it seemed like something I was supposed to do, just part of becoming
a man.  Why not? Both my parents smoked, as did many of my friends. I
really got hooked when I went away to college and discovered that
smoking is a way to relieve tension.  It gives you something to do when
you don't know what to do next, a real boon to the activity addict.
Needless to say, there're a lot of times when I don't know what to
do next, so I smoked a lot, as much as three packs a day, with a mode
of 1.5 packs.  It probably averaged out to 2 packs per day, and this
went on for 13 years.

My decision to quit came about as part of the traumatic process of
turning 30.  I realized that I was not really going to live forever
and that my health was nothing to screw around with.  Now, I couldn't
climb two flights of steps without getting dizzy, and couldn't swim
a length of the pool underwater.  What really did it for me, though,
was realizing just how offensive my habit was to others.  My breath
and clothes stunk, I had a yellow sheen all over everything I lived
with, and I polluted the air around me for several yards every time
I lit up.  I used to think that it wouldn't bother anybody as long
as I didn't exhale in their direction.  What put the cap on it was
my non-smoking office mate's remark that his wife could smell my
cigarette smoke on his clothes when he got home from work.  He was
never nasty about my smoking, either, just civil as could be.

I quit cold turkey in late February, 1980.  The experience was very
uncomfortable, but not unbearable, and the worst of it was over after
three days.  For a period of about three weeks, my sleep and bowel
habits were disrupted, but that, too, was not unbearable, and it passed
altogether after a few months.  I did gain about 15 pounds, but I lost
all of it and more thanks to watching what I ate and riding a 10-speed
bicycle.  

I have not had a cigarette in over four years now, and I feel better for
it by several orders of magnitude.  Nowadays, cigarette smoke offends
me just as much as the most vehement, never-smoked, anti-smoker, thanks
to the quick return of my sense of smell after stubbing out that last
butt.  In short, it's the biggest favor I ever did myself.

So, for any of you out there who are contemplating quitting, DO IT!
It's well worth whatever temporary discomfort you might experience,
and not as bad as some people would have you believe.
-- 

                               Bob Fishell
                               ihnp4!ihu1g!fish