tallgirl said:
I don't think anyone is kicking you when you're down. There's a huge difference between "Hey, you're a stupid smoker!" and what people have written here.
It's not what you think that matters when you insult a person. My concern is not what posters in general have written... it's what you wrote here.
tallgirl said:
Personally, I smoke. I've smoked off and on for a bit over 30 years and I currently smoke somewhere around half a pack a day. I've smoked more in the past, and even quit for a few years somewhere in there.
You see here is what makes the big difference between you and I, as smokers. You've smoked off and on for over 30 years. There has been no off for me. The closest I've come to "off" is cutting down, and that's it. And technically you didn't quit for a few years... you only stopped smoking. They are not the same. Perhaps this is what you meant by, "You really can quit any time you want, put up with all the those horrible symptoms for about 2 or 3 weeks, and then be done with it for the rest of your life." As it stands you have now made yourself appear hypocritical.
tallgirl said:
But if someone doesn't want me smoking in their house, or in their office, or in their car, or wherever, I don't.
I do the same. That's not the issue. The issue is someone telling me I can't go where I can smoke when I so choose to. Even if I'm permitted to go, extending the distance I have to go isn't any different... such as I can't smoke anywhere on the property, including outside.
tallgirl said:
I work in a field where stress is the number 1 health problem -- several years ago I went through an entire string of tests, including for such lovelies as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and AIDS, because my GYN couldn't figure out why I'd been ill for the past year or so. As soon as she got around to asking me if I was under much stress, she understood what was wrong -- my immune system had collapsed from work-related stress. Many of my co-workers are on anti-depressants or other stress-related drugs. Me? I smoke and drink and plot to get out of the entire high-tech end of the planet. What I don't do is run around blaming someone else for my decisions.
Are you insinuating that I'm blaming my decision to smoke on others? If you are, you are most definitely way off base.
As to your problem and stress in general, I believe stress can take more years off one's life than smoking. So where are all the health nuts on this issue? Kinda hard to attack the abstract isn't it? I learned how to cope with stress long ago. I forget that it requires a conscious effort in doing so after a spell of going stress free, but it's a lot like riding a bicycle (not that I've gotten on a bicycle anytime lately, but at least it's the correct clich?
)
tallgirl said:
Am I unsympathetic? No. I've quit cold turkey a few times and know it's hard. I also have friends who've been heroin addicts who tell me that it really is harder than quitting heroin. What I do know is that the symptoms are gone after a few weeks. I've learned to tell people go to hell much better than the last time I quit and I expect that the next time I quit my ability to cope with stress will be improved enough that instead of feeling the need to light up, I'll deal with whatever it is that's being dumped in my lap.
But it's your choice to smoke. Kindly grow up and quit acting like it's someone else's problem.
Now you gotta take insult to the injury level. Who's the one that needs to grow up here?
I'm not acting. I am the person I choose to be. If becoming someone I am not is a part of growing up, I kindly refuse to do so. My smoking is very much a part of me. To have anything to do with me, you get the whole package, not just the parts you like. It's the way it is, like it or not.