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Originally Posted by Nugget
I have to be honest and say that I've always found ex-smokers to be the worst non-smokers around (and don't worry, this isn't a specific attack on you, clairie  ).
I've always failed to understand how people who did smoke can then be so against smoking, just because they managed / had the willpower to stop. I think it's pretty much been proved that tobacco is ana addictive substance and, as such, it's difficult to just stop. Therefore, to my mind, ex-smokers should appreciate more than anything why people still do smoke. |
This is a very good point. I sometimes ponder this myself. But as I said earlier, I am not sure I ever was 100% addicted because I wasn't always a habitual smoker. Furthermore, having reaped the benefits myself of quitting, I never understand why a lot of people don't even want to quit, let alone are unable to do so. I believe also that the smell becomes a lot more repulsive when you quit smoking, because you know you have been putting that stuff in your body. So you want to get as far away from it as possible.
I read an excellent analogy for smoking once in a book on how to give up. It said imagine if you have a spot on your face that won't go away, so your friend lends you some ointment. You use it, and the spot vanishes, but a few days later, another one appears. You use the ointment again, and again it disappears. But later two more appear, then three, and soon your whole face is covered. Every time you use the ointment and they disappear, but come back again worse every time. You realise of course that the ointment is causing the spots, but as it is also the remedy, you don't want to stop using it.
What do you do? Stop using the ointment and put up with a really spot face for a while until it goes for good, or keep on using it and just accept that your skin will keep on getting worse, and that you will only ever have short sharp bouts of relief...
It is my experience that denial often goes hand in hand with smoking. I myself was probably in denial about what smoking was doing to me when I used to smoke, and often smokers don't like to talk about smoking because they do not want to face the thought of what they know they have to do: quit. That's entirely down to them of course. But it makes the concerned friend or family member look like a 'moaner' when actually they really want to look out for their loved one.