Current Smokers and Ex-Smokers QUESTION

EyeLikeTacos

People who smoke or use to smoke:

Why did you or who/what influenced you to start smoking?

A) Friends (Peer Pressure)
Family Members (saw mom or dad do it so you did it?)
C) Movies/Television Actors (To imitate a celebrity?)
D) Vanity (You thought it made you look older or sexy?)
E) Other?

Also, I hope I don't get internet b!tch slapped for this one...but I find someone who is overweight unattractive smoking. (To the point I give the yuck face)..but for some reason I am not bothered by someone who is fit smoking,,,,I can't explain that one.


PS: I don't smoke

Nessiechickie

I started smoking about 4-5 years ago because I guess you could say peer pressure since my friends in High School smoked.
Currently I'm trying to limit the amount I smoke and hopefully in the very close future quit.

Hssh1988

Started peer pressure. Plus, I do, or did rather, really enjoy smoking.

Quit 14 months ago. My partner doesn't smoke, made it easier. Wanted to stop because I was getting an office job, and didn't want to be sitting at my desk craving cigarettes.

Also easier to do because nobody believed I would. Yeah, I'm competitive.

beernpizza

I no longer smoke, but used too. The reason I started smoking was because the restaurant that I worked at didn't let anyone take breaks except for the smokers. I thought that was bull**** so I started smoking just so I could get a break.

Wow, I was so dumb.

Pollywog39

I started when I was about 15............cuz it was cool. My older sisters smoked, and I'd steal them........and sometimes they'd share one with me.

I've started and stopped a number of times since.............I currently smoke, but not a lot. They go best with a beer or cocktail :smokin: :drinker: :smokin: :drinker: :smokin: :drinker:

Cherrybomb2012

When everyone around you smokes growing up it turns into a habit you knew you never wanted! lol Also quit smoking for my own health.

Dub_D

I smoked since I was 12 and started because it was cool.. I quit a year and a half ago.

I always give the "yuck" face to smokers (not just overweight ones) .. it's bad I know, I should understand why they're smoking since I'm an ex smoker, but it feels so damn good to shame them lol

Seeing an overweight smoker is worse than seeing a fit smoker because they are adding even more risks to their already unhealthy body.

Ezwoldo

I started when I was 12 because my friends did it took me the next 19 years to give up but I have done it now and only when in a smoking drinking company do I have one now just to be socialable

EyeLikeTacos

I no longer smoke, but used too. The reason I started smoking was because the restaurant that I worked at didn't let anyone take breaks except for the smokers. I thought that was bull**** so I started smoking just so I could get a break.

Wow, I was so dumb.

LOL! That's crazy...I sometimes get up from my desk and say out loud to anyone around "Taking my non-smoke break" and go outside for a walk for 5 mins.

Fatal1ty2k5

People who smoke or use to smoke:

Why did you or who/what influenced you to start smoking?

A) Friends (Peer Pressure) I was the first kid that started smoking out of my social group by a long shot. Was a dumb *kitten* kid and thought it made me look cool, was swiping packs from my parents cartons. I was 14, my 1st job was @ 15 at a grocery store so by then I could just sell them to myself.

Family Members (saw mom or dad do it so you did it?) Dad/mom/grandpa/great grandpa all chain smokers, everyone in my family treats their bodies horribly with booze and tobacco, also alot of heavy drug usage with a few of them. Funny thing is none of us ever die from it. Everyone dies of old age.

C) Movies/Television Actors (To imitate a celebrity?)Nope

D) Vanity (You thought it made you look older or sexy?)Nope

E) Other? I was a dumbass, wish I could go back in time and ***** slap myself


Edit: Started Chantix about a month ago, dosent seem to be having any effect on me other than having some crazy *kitten* dreams

EyeLikeTacos

Seeing an overweight smoker is worse than seeing a fit smoker because they are adding even more risks to their already unhealthy body.

I was thinking that too...

Like yesterday I was in traffic...and I saw this lady who's arm was as big as my thighs holding a cigarette with her arm outside her window...I was like "WTF",,,,that's nasty!

wk9t

I started smoking when I was 13 or 14 years old because all my friends were doing it. By the time I was 26 I was smoking 3 packs of non filter Camel's every day ... I was slowly killing myself. I quit smoking when I was 26 ... that was 38 years ago.

AmoreCouture

Ex smoker, and when I was 13, some friends and a guy I liked smoked, so I did to to be cool. It also helped that I could have easy access to them because my mom smoked. Sadly, almost every person in my family does. I can't stand it now, and am thankful my husband never picked up the habit.

kayemme

Seeing an overweight smoker is worse than seeing a fit smoker because they are adding even more risks to their already unhealthy body.

I was thinking that too...

Like yesterday I was in traffic...and I saw this lady who's arm was as big as my thighs holding a cigarette with her arm outside her window...I was like "WTF",,,,that's nasty!

so much judgment on other people! we are simply mirrors.

cushygal

I started because my family and friends all smoked.

I smoked for 20 years and give it up over 6 years ago - would NEVER go back.

EyeLikeTacos

I asked my mom this question...and her response was...

"I started smoking because, my roomate smoked and cigarettes were added to the house grocery bills."

She basically started smoking because she felt if she had to pay for it, might as well smoke them...


She really regrets it now.

indpls2002

PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THAT DRUG!! I had a friend commit suicide while taking it.....proven by the doctor as to why he died

xXKatrinaXx

Friends when I was 15. Finally just quit a few weeks ago.

jcpmoore

I started because it helped with the pain that I have every day. I smoked only clove cigarettes. When they started upsetting my stomach, I stopped them entirely. A few months later, the government decided to outlaw them because they were "marketed to kids." Whatever. I stopped in 2010.

EyeLikeTacos

Seeing an overweight smoker is worse than seeing a fit smoker because they are adding even more risks to their already unhealthy body.

I was thinking that too...

Like yesterday I was in traffic...and I saw this lady who's arm was as big as my thighs holding a cigarette with her arm outside her window...I was like "WTF",,,,that's nasty!

so much judgment on other people! we are simply mirrors.

I agree...and you know that shameful feeling you get when you done something wrong?...I immediately get that feeling after thinking that way...I get mad at myself for thinking it...and I don't know why I think that way....

maroonmango211

When I was 16, among friends because it *ahem* made the high better. what can I say I was a stoner back in highschool. I kept it up after stopping that all and only quit during my prengnancies and a couple failed attempts. Smoke free now for month and a half!!!! This time is a winner because:

I always did the cringe face at old smokers especially if they looked unhealthy as well, like my brain was telling me that they should have quit and know better by then. I didn't want to be one and I did know better, in a couple days its my 25th birthday I'm proud to say I will never be an old unfit smoker

KrisThomas1964

I smoked since I was 15 and started because it was cool.. And quit 17 and a half years ago and still crave wanting one even stopped going out to pub and socialising as a result of giving up.

pittskaa

I no longer smoke, but used too. The reason I started smoking was because the restaurant that I worked at didn't let anyone take breaks except for the smokers. I thought that was bull**** so I started smoking just so I could get a break.

Wow, I was so dumb.

same here!!!!!!!!! all of the smokers at the restaurant i work at stand outside for 10-15 minutes, but if anyone else wants to go to their car, sit down for a few minutes it's not allowed. so i started saying "im going out for a quick cigarette" (but didn't actually smoke), and then one day i just started smokign them. so stupid.

RotterdamNL

Ive smoked heavy tabacco for 16 yrs and cannabis and stopped on august 6th feel free to read my profile

Why i started, was just the group where i was in back then

And judging someone smoking that is fat and not skinny people is a form of racism

EyeLikeTacos

And judging someone smoking that is fat and not skinny people is a form of racism

I see what you mean...but NO....You chose to smoke...you don't chose to be a certain race.

Nice try though....

and judging someone is just being judgemental or prejudice...

PaveGurl

I began smoking because I was really shy and self-conscious and smoking gave me something to do with my hands. My parents and grandparents smoked (it was the 80s, man), so it wasn't a big deal, really.

I quit (hopefully for the last time) in Janaury 2010, because I was sick of feeling crummy all the time.

citizencrp

My Mom smoked and I hated it, but the first summer I left home and some of my peers were smoking, I felt a physical need to do it. I also thought it would help me lose weight and curb my appetite,
Basically, I think I started it like I started any other fad diet. With lots of optimism that it would curb my appetite and be the thing that solved my weight problems. I was 15. Became addicted. Gained a hundred pounds over the next 20 years and finally quit smoking last November when I was at my highest weight.

ahviendha

I started due to a combination of my dad owning a cigar shop and always trying to get me to smoke, and it being so easy for me to steal cigs or cigarillos from him.

Then I kept it up to be "cool" and look older (i have chronic baby face hah) and be rebellious.

Quit after 3-4 years once I met my current boyfriend, who hates smoking!

BSchoberg

Parents smoked... I tried it a few times in high school, but didn't really get into it until college - and that was to lose weight, ironically enough. Quit last Halloween and it's a pretty rare day that I don't think "Wow! I'm so glad I don't smoke anymore!"

Go1096

People who smoke or use to smoke:

Why did you or who/what influenced you to start smoking?

A) Friends (Peer Pressure)
Family Members (saw mom or dad do it so you did it?)
C) Movies/Television Actors (To imitate a celebrity?)
D) Vanity (You thought it made you look older or sexy?)
E) Other?

Also, I hope I don't get internet b!tch slapped for this one...but I find someone who is overweight unattractive smoking. (To the point I give the yuck face)..but for some reason I am not bothered by someone who is fit smoking,,,,I can't explain that one.


PS: I don't smoke

I had my first cig when I was like 5 yo. I remember my mom smacking me in the mouth for having taken a drag out of that cigarette. But really it was her fault, why would you hand your child a lit cigarette and tell them to throw it out? I smoked for a couple of months when I was 13 yo old. Everyone in my family smoked. My grandparents, my parents, my aunts, and uncles.
So it wasn't hard for me to steal a cigarette from one of them. At 16 I went back to smoking. It wasn't hard then either, I'd buy them at the local convenient store and I never got carded. But I stopped a few months later again. Then I met my husband and he was a big time smoker so I picked it up again. I have been smoking most of my life. I quit every time I got pregnant without issues. I quit when I was at a church that frowned upon smoking for about a year. Then I picked up again. I go back and forth a lot. I say it was parents. My son is 19 and he's been smoking since he was like 15 yo old. He got that not just from me but his friends but his friends have parents that also smoke. So there you have it.

In terms of the yuck face because someone is overweight and smoking....for me, I belittle myself just because I am overweight.
And look at others in my position and I catch myself judging them the same way I judge myself. I realized it's the reflection of myself that I am judging and not them. So in my mind I always ask God to forgive me for having taken my self hatred out on them even if it wasn't done in the open and try to change it.

apedeb09

I guess you could say it was a mixture of peer pressure and having my mom smoke around me all the time..

When I was 13, I was with an old friend and she had a cigarette on her. I told her I was scared to try it, but she was like "cmon, just take a hit" so I did.. and I've pretty much been smoking ever since. When I turned 15, my mom started letting me smoke around her and giving me her cigarettes. Such a hard habit to break too. I've quit during all 3 of my pregnancies but for some reason like a dumba$$, I start smoking again sometime after I give birth. Probably doesn't help that my husband smokes like a chimney.