12th Nov 2009
in defense of smoking
OK, I realize this post isn’t going to win me any friends. And let me issue a disclaimer first — I am not advocating to anyone that you go out and start smoking. But I want to explain something that I think people forget.
Smoking is actually pleasurable. This is one of the reasons I am struggling to quit.
I started smoking in high school. I grew up with smokers and many of my friends also started in high school. I smoked throughout college, as did my best friend and roommate. (Proximity has everything to do with this — hard to quit when the person you live with is still lighting up. An issue I deal with now, as Chris is a smoker). Then, after college when my grandmother died of emphysema, I quit smoking and stayed quit for 10 years until I was going through a divorce and finishing my doctoral program and under a lot of stress.
Something to think about. Quitting is every day. You don’t just stop once, you stop every morning. I quit again when I came to NJ, but Chris and I met and he smoked and it was easy to start up again. So I have been smoking for the last couple of years that we have been together and I am in the position of absolutely having to stop as smoking is related to the cluster headaches probably, as well as being all around really really bad for you.
Of course I know that. I watched someone die from it. And I watched my parents quit after being smokers for decades. So I am figuring out how to quit (and how to negotiate that with a smoking husband). But the thing for people to understand is that smoking is pleasurable. There’s nothing like that first cigarette with a cup of coffee in the morning, or with your Friday happy hour drink after a long week. Or other times you might want a smoke that I will leave well enough alone here. RJ Reynolds and the tobacco companies know this, but I wonder if the people who give me that wrinkled nose, “I can’t believe someone as smart as you would do something so stupid” look understand that. Yes, it’s about pleasure.
The funny thing is that, in some ways, our society is moving in a direction away from pleasure — about not doing things that feel good even though we know they’re bad. And I have met people who are very proud to be able to deny themselves so many things — no caffeine, no nicotine, no or very little alcohol. No processed foods, etc. There’s this ethic right now that “good” people exercise, eat less, and don’t give in to the pleasures that we know are “bad” for you.
But here’s the thing. Sometimes the bad things feel so good. I think we have to acknowledge that. I also think that the more we pressure ourselves and each other to withhold pleasure, the harder it is. Quit caffeine and only drink green tea as you work your way to herbal (yeah right — I happen to find green tea disgusting, but I guess that’s neither here nor there). Give up meat, and all foods that are that bright orange found in the very best convenience stores. When I lived in Boulder, there was a lot of this, and I think there is even more today.
If you want to change your eating habits because it’s better for the world politically and environmentally, I am all for it. But let’s recognize that there’s a place for pleasure. Sometimes that deep chocolate bar is just what I need. Smoking feels good on about seven hundred levels — that’s why quitting is so hard. A drink can be really nice and relaxing. OK, good. Sometimes there’s a place in life for all of these things — and those who smoke or drink or eat “bad” foods aren’t bad people. Saying this, I think, opens the door for moderation — there’s a place for almost everything and understanding why people smoke, because it is pleasurable, can help people understand why it is so hard to quit.
I need to quit smoking, it isn’t good, but quitting is damned hard — I’ve tried cold turkey and that didn’t work. Next stop (because meds will interfere with my head they aren’t an option) is the patch. And as for the other things — all things in moderation. The Europeans seem to know this; let’s see if we can’t learn from that.
Yep. And while all these people, quit smoking, drinking, all vices and live life as dictated by Oprah, prescription medication abuse rates soar.
Hey - yeah i think it’s really good to acknowledge that smoking is pleasurable. But unlike chocolate for example, which might be bad for us (but dark chocolate is actually good for us) it is comes with a range of nasty experiences we try to forget, like a cough, smelly clothes, perhaps stained fingers - and if our lungs were hanging on the outside of our bodies, we might not be so eager to look at them. Whenever I started smoking again I had to get over that “hurdle” where my lungs protested and it tasted disgusting. Things get better with time like when you get over the taste of beer when you are young, or even over the first sexual experience. But there’s something to be said for that fact that when I am not smoking I find it disgusting - when I started smoking rollies I realised how plastic tasting cigarettes were. We get “used to” how it tastes and just enjoy the feeling. i also decided i would never like beer and don’t drink it i drink cider instead!
when i quit once and i heard it would take 10 years for some things in my body to get back “to normal” that was quite a shock. If only we could just have a few cigs a month to enhance those good times, and not become so addicted. I’m all for drinking a glass of red wine and eating dark chocolate - and even getting drunk on tequila once in a while in my ideal healthy future…but smoking is just so much more addictive - and I rebel against that power it has over me. smoking is a lot about rebellion - and so i try to cultivate a feeling of rebelling against it.
In the end - i’ll never try convert someone to stop - and who knows - i might start again once day - if i don’t have enough other things in my life that help me destress - i can’t imagine how hard a divorce is. but the thing that i WOULD advocate and point out - is that why can’t you [i mean people in general] drink the green tea (try it with cranberry - hey get over that bad taste it gets better - just like cigarettes - and THIS is good for you) and or eat less red meat - do all those things you said - and still smoke? no one said if you start leading a healthier lifestyle in all other ways you have to quit. at least do that so your body has a better chance of dealing with the toxins in cigarettes - it might even give you MORE reason to reward yourself with a cigarette.
i know no one that smokes who has tried to lead a really healthy lifestyle in other ways - i am sure they are out there though. there’s such an idea of a mutally exclusive thing between being healthy and smoking. perhaps in the end its because if you do start leading that really healthy lifestyle - you’ll just end up not wanting smoke at all after a few years - and thats scary.
at the end of the page - i was only able to quit because i finally actually wanted to. luckily for me i barely smoked a pack a day. more like 5 a day - but for almost 9 years.
just smoke, forget quitting. if you can’t stand the pressure to stop, then move to france. i wish most americans would move to the other continent to see how uptight and controlling they are: puritanism is alive and well. by the way, i smoking as i write this, walking around with my iphone.
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