Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihu1g.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!hou3c!hocda!houxm!ihnp4!ihu1g!fish 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