Letters to the Editor
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A happy solution
Smoke cigars they don't cause lung cancer.
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I feel your pain
I gave up butts around the same time. Closely on the heels of giving up booze. That's quite the virtuous combination. While I haven't gained weight, I don't feel any differently save for the errant morning hangover after 16 beers and 2 packs of smokes.
How I long for the good old days.
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It's Now Official!
To those of you who wrote something funny, insightful, ot thoughtful -- thanks! To everyone else -- It's Now Official!: Salon (at least the letters columns) really has been taken over by a bunch of humorless, hectoring, moralistic prigs.
Get over yourselves. Yeah, your body is a temple, but who wants to spend every minute of their day in church? What are you, fricking John Ashcroft?
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i loved every single cig I ever smoked and miss it like crazy
I miss smoking so much and I can't wait to start again. It's been a little over a year since I smoked and I hope to make it about 5 years before I start again (purely for social, work and family reasons although all things related to smell have improved and food certainly does taste better). If I wasn't such a pussy I'd still smoke. But I will return! I can't wait for that first cig. It will be wonderful in ways that only real smokers appreciate.
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I smoked for 40 years!!
After years of struggle to quit a 2-pack a day smoking habit, I finally succeeded, after attending every quit smoking program available!
The culmination of my first horrible "smoke free" year was an emergency bypass operation - no fun there!
Alas, I probably should have expected something bad was going on.
I am somewhat ashamed to admit however, that I still miss smoking. Perhaps time will take the desire away, but after 10 smoke-free years I don't think so. On the other hand, my doctor is quite happy.
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Hey, Ted!!!!
No, really, screw YOU, pal.
How much do you want to bet more smokers would quit if it weren't for sancitmonious fucks like you? The article and most of these letters are great. They actually make me want to quit my nasty habit for good. But then I read your letter and wanted nothing more than to spitefully blow stanky burning Camel fumes into your self righteous face. Why could that be?
Smokers are simply tired of being treated as criminals by "non-smokers" like you. If you were really so concerned about anyone's wellbeing you'd encourage the RT for quitting and sticking to it despite the difficulty. Instead you chose to take the moral superiority police approach and just condemn all smokers for being selfish. As if it's just a switch we can flip to make ourselves stop on your command. Have you ever smoked? Have you ever tried to stop? Do you have any idea what a Herculean effort it can be? Oh, but I guess that's just me being selfish again, pointing out the reality of it and all.
Is climbing onto your high horse using the backs of others how you go about making yourself feel better? That seems to be the typical non-smoker modus operandi.
"Non-smokers. I'd quit if I didn't think I'd become one of you."
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Is whining an after effect of quitting?
Jesus, was I this whiny after I quit? Just kidding, kinda. I can relate. I was expecting food to taste so much better, my wind to get instantly better, and just an all around better feeling. If that stuff happened, it was so gradual as to not be noticeable. The most obvious effect to me is I'm 5 bucks richer every day. Also, hangovers are considerably less intense.
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smoking, reagarding the people who don't do it, is the equivalent of pumping any other poison into the atmosphere for other people to breathe and be made sick by
any unwillingness to acknowledge this simple physical fact demonstrates total immersion in a fantasy world of defensiveness and denial. Whatever you experience and whatever the reasons for it, if you quit smoking you will be much healthier and if you don't appear to be then the problems were there but you weren't seeing/feeling them
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maybe emotional sensitivy and awarenss has it's downside
there seems to be evidence that women have more trouble than men giving up addictions and in my experience it seems that the people who feel worst about quitting smoking are mostly women. If you do aerobic exercise regularly you should notice improvement right away.
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man, these letters make me want to smoke
I haven't had or wanted a cigarette in years, but reading some of these letters reminds me of the main reason I liked it so much in the first place -- nonsmokers really are anuses. They're smug and self-congratulatory, and they think that every smoker, deep down in his heart, wants to be like them. What they don't realize is that the smokers are glaring at them from behind a cloud of protective smoke thinking, "take that, asshole." Ah, to be young again.
I always think of that great Sedaris quote:
“The trouble with aggressive non smokers is that they feel they are doing you a favor by not allowing you to smoke. They seem to think that one day you’ll thank them for those 15 seconds added to your life. What they don’t understand is that those are just 15 more minutes I can spend hating their guts and plotting revenge.”
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I just lit up
Over nearly 60 years of enthusiastic puffing, it's been my impression that non-smokers were witless dweebs with nothing to say worth a good h-a-a-w-k. Comments here confirm that guess.
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Me Too!
While you withdraw from the smoking addiction all you can think about is smoking; how you smoked, when you smoked, who you smoked with, what brand you smoked, smoking on the beach, smoking on the way to the beach....smoking withdrawal smokes up your brain and you can't think straight. You have alot of klutz moments, you forget where you are going, you forget where your hands are, you are remembering smoking....and spending all your energy on remembering smoking and not smoking.
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Accept being depressed. Get help.
Seriously- those of you who are being crushed under the emotional weight of quitting: GO TO COUNSELING.
It doesn't make you a loser, it means you need some coaching. What makes you a loser is to flail and drown alone as you go through a really difficult time.
Call someone. Please.
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sick as a dog
yes yes. . .i have given up smoking twice in the last 5 years and gotten sick as a dog both times. first time i had a flu that wouldn't quit. i never did "feel better".
depression, sadness & loss. who was i ? where did i go ? sometimes i get so mad at the tobacco companies that i want to go out & shoot somebody. non-smokers don't have a clue how addictive it is. have managed to give up pot, coke, coffee & sugar over the years with none of the problems i've had with tobacco.
hang in there. .the worst is over for you now.