My mother has been a smoker since she was a teenager. I could never understand why she has never been able to stop successfully. Smoking is said to be one of the most difficult addictions to beat because Nicotine is so highly addictive. It is also believed that many people smoke because they simply cannot stop.Well that answers that question. However, why did she begin to smoke in the first place? Was it peer pressure to look cool or fit in? Was she bored or dealing with a bad situation? Some say that there can be a psychological dependency associated with smokers, for my mother I know this is true. She smokes more when she is stressed out and thinks that smoking helps her to calm down.
I have smoked a few years ago because I have seen my mom smoke for so long. I only smoked menthols and quickly gave up with no problem. I only wish that it was as easy for my mom to give up. It can be frustrating because she is a nurse and knows the ramifications, but I guess quitting is just not that easy for everyone.
I'm a smoker. I've smoked since I was 13 years old. My parents both smoked, whilst at the same time telling me not to because it was a bad habit. I didn't start smoking as an act of rebellion, or because they smoked and had set me a bad example. I started smoking because, on the inside cover of an album I'd bought by my heroes at the time, there was a picture of a crumpled up, empty packet of Rothmans cigarettes and my blind, youthful hero-worship led me down nicotine alley never to return. Thirty years down the line, however (yes, I'm THAT old), I now find that smoking has gone back to being the act of rebellion it once was and, when one considers the nature of other so-called 'antisocial' or 'bad' behaviours, it's quite a mild one at that. Personally, I find drinking much more offensive than smoking for the simple fact that a night on the piss can have far worse and wider-ranging effects than a night on the Marlboro Lights. The sensible adult in me knows that smoking is bad for me and that I should give up at some point, especially as I'm not getting any younger, but the latent teenage rebel in me (we all have one you know) is screaming against it: after all, isn't something much more attractive when you're told you're not supposed to be doing it?
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