by AlmostAtheist 33 Replies latest jw friends
Why, why why did I open this thread??!! Darn it, remembering how that rush of nicotine just makes everything a little less bad, and makes all good things just feel fantastic. .... Oh sweet tempation, now I miss it!
(Haven't smoked in 9 months, quit cold turkey)
Good for you, Vivamus!
AlmostAthiest, my dad tried many times over thirty years to quit. He finally hit on the critical formula, his own mortality. He has emphysema, and if he hadn't quit a few years ago, he'd be dead. As a doorknob.
The threat of not taking a breath (the worst way to die besides gangrene, I assure you) cured him. The patch helped, too. If I remember right, it was three months of grouchiness.
I figure, thirty years or three, what's the difference? If you don't want the nasty end, quit now.
I tried smoking when I was a teenager. I didn't like it, so I didn't start. After finishing college in my late thirties and becoming a nurse. I noticed that a lot of the nurses smoked and the patients as well. It just astonished me that patients near death would for go eating to have a cigarette. I got to wondering what's with that? I even had a patient that was 80 years old that wouldn't give up her cigarettes. I thought "hell she's old enough to do what she wants". I had a paralyzed patient that wanted his cigarettes. His wife would hold the cigarette for him.
So, at the age of 44 (around there), I started smoking. The cigarette did calm my nerves. I started out with Misty Lights. The darn thing didn't even choke me. That was the beginning of my smoking. My husband didn't mind because he had been smoking every since he went to Viet Nam, every since we've been married; 'cept he quit for a year because he was thinking about becoming a witness.
My girls asked me "Mom what would you do if we started smoking?" I told them that if they wanted to start smoking at the age of 43 that it would be fine with me.
I have a paralyzed vocal cord due to a botched thyroid surgery. Only one moves. I had to have a trachestomy for about 6 months because both cords were initially paralyzed. I still smoked it was weird seeing the smoke coming out the trach. I'm sure that everyone thought that I had the trach due to laryngeal cancer. I just thought "whatever". It helped my nerves. I thought that I was going to have the trach for life. Thank goodness that one cord recovered!
I continue to smoke. I don't think that I'm going to die from smoking. I think that it'll be something else that gets me.
I hate that picture!
Does anyone remember a question to the WT about some treatment to help smokers break their addiction, and that it would not be permissable for a Christian? It was at least 30 years ago.
LIke many I tried cigarettes, and wonder what the big deal was. I used it for two extensive periods as self-medicaiton for stress (three months was the longest, after I separated from my wife), but had no difficulty stopping as I had never really smoked a lot (maybe 3-4/day and only in the evenings). Besides, it's bl**dy expensive at the equivalent of $10/20 pack!
To be honest I enjoyed it, too, but I hate the effect it has on making your breath smell. I could also physically feel the effect it had on my facial skin tone (I'm very in touch with my body). I prefer the pipe, but haven't really had much of an interest in smoking that for a few months, either. Its like the occasional treat that I like to be in the right mood for.
Having seen far too many friends get addicted, I would support the original advise. Better not to start, as you really don't need it...
I had my first cigarette as a form of closure. When I let the organization It was after a gradual process of not believing their truth. I needed to do something in a symbolic and instant way to signify my exit, a sort of reverse baptism.
Since that cigarette I have indulged a few times and even bought a pipe (Which I thought would be cool but is actually disgusting)
I can really see how the whole smoking thing can take off and rule/ruin your life, thankfully I stopped before it became a problem.
Since that cigarette I have indulged a few times and even bought a pipe (Which I thought would be cool but is actually disgusting)
Not that I want to encourage pipe smoking, but a good pipe, a good tobacco and some time is all that's required. A pipe takes a while to mellow, and can have the taste of manufacture in it for quite a while. It also needs regular cleaning or it can start to taste "dirty". Pipe smoke certainly is a little harsher than your gentler cigarette blends, and can take some getting used to.
Just my 2p as an occasional pipe-smoker
Plus it's falling victim to yet another lying controlling conglomerate!
http://www.tobaccolawcenter.org/dojlitigation.html <---Big tobacco found to have violated racketeering laws for lying about scientific facts and continuing to stoke cigs with more and more nicotine (and they are still doing that).
Good advice Almost Atheist. I smoke, and know that it is bad for me. If XJW's really want to tick "mother org" off then just attend a church somewhere, that would be like giving the WT Society a big slap on the face.
Hey All,
Good replies, thanks! I know there's a ton of "anti-smoking" stuff out there, and nobody who lights up today believes they're taking a "healthy smoke". This thread is all about reaching newbies that haven't lit up yet, and hoping to wave them off onto something less damaging to rebel with.
>>You don't look cool when you smoke either.
DUDE! *Everybody* looks cool when they're smokin'!
>>Plus it's falling victim to yet another lying controlling conglomerate!
So true, Reb'! They even modified the construction of the cigarette so it would deliver a lower dose of the lethal stuff to the government's "puffer" device, while still giving the full dose to a human smoker. Sheesh... the Watchtower could take lessons from these guys! (And to be fair, they could probably GIVE some lessons, too.)
Dave
