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.