Why should I quit???

[bosnianworrier]

I do not wanna discourage anyone but I have lost my motivation for quitting. I know I would save tons of money ($11 a day) and I would feel better, smell better etc...BUT, after doing some research on benefits of quitting, it seems that chance for lung cancer reduces to half of those who continue to smoke after 10-15 years. Chance for throat, esophagual and other cancers reduces to half after 5-10 years.

I mean it only reduces to half of a smoker. So it is still 10 times higher than of those who never smoked even after 15 years of quitting. And also, I read that in the first 5-10 years chances for lung cancer increases after you quit smoking. (read it in some foreign site and not sure where that study was, too scared to dig it out)

Im 28, smoked on and off for 8 years. All total maybe 5-6 years of smoking. Im really confused of what to do.

[kathyjo]

There should be no confusion as to why you should quit! Smoking is pure evil and can control your entire life if you let it, and most of us do.
I live in NYC where it isn't ok to smoke anymore. You can't do it in any indoor places and now they are even trying to control the outdoor places!
I am so glad that I have quit.....I smoked for 38 yrs. and I was a slave to the cigarette. I couldn't take long car trips, I wouldn't go to the movies, I wouldn't fly.......all because I didn't want to have to go without my cigarettes. I am not even talking about the dangers of smoking to my body but just the emotional and physical addiction to the most powerful drug!
You can reason that because of your smoking you are already at a higher risk for all sorts of cancer, but when you begin to rationalize, you better know that you are an addict too and you are just looking for a reason to continue. It only makes sense that when you quit a risky behavior you are in a better position so please don't justify your decision to continue to smoke.
Smoking stinks. You stink and you probably don't even realize it. You will if you should quit and then when you smell a smoker you will understand just how much you smelled.

If you can quit so easily, do it and never ever look back. You will never regret it. I am "quit" almost 7 months and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't crave a cigarette, I even dream about smoking, but I will NEVER put another one of those nasty things in my mouth again!!
Good luck to you and don't be fooled by all that you read. I can finally take a full breath of air without lung pain and I only hope that my body will repair itself daily.
(22 cigarettes a day at $48.00 a carton)
Kathy Jo
---
6m 3w 1d 11:47 smoke-free, 4,516 cigs not smoked, $1,083.84 saved, 2w 1d 16:20 life saved

[Jizi]

go to whyquit.com, that should answer your question on why you should quit.

[Sajonna]

Jizi: That is a great site..I saw that 2 years ago when I was serious about quitting.  Seems like the more serious you are about quitting, the more successful you will be.

Bosnianworrier:  I tried 8x to quit over 10 years.  I was up to 3 packs a day when I quit.  Every quit was harder than the last quit.  Then what REALLY got me to quit was (and don't think I am just making this up!):  I had to go to LA, California for some business trips.  Almost everywhere I went I couldn't smoke.  And no one around me out there was smoking either.  Then one day we all went to Disneyland.  Everyone was having a good time....except for me.  It then hit me, I just paid $100 to get into Disneyland only to walk around that park all day long *looking for a place to smoke.*

When I got to the airport, 3 hours early, the terminal I was in, had no area to smoke in.  that trip I had taken along a carton of smokes for a 4 trip and when I got back home I had 8 packs left!  The whole time I was there all I could think of was "where am I gonna be able to smoke?"  With each hour that went by, I felt this horrible withdrawal, bitchiness and almost felt embarrassed by being the only smoker.  And every smoker knows, the longer you go without a smoke, the more you cough.  So at that point I was sounding like an old lady with emphesyma.  

I entered a meeting room one day with everyone in cubicles, one person yelled out Hello Sajonna and another did too.  I asked them 'how they knew it was me because they couldn't see me."  One said she recognized my cough and the other said she smelled me.  I was terribly embarrassed.

I got back home, looked online for a support group (quitsite) and read through all their advice on quitting.  I set my quit date for May 30th, 2006 and I did it.  I used a NRT (nicotine replacement therapy) Gum which  I found for $9 a box of 96 from Australia.  Fruit Flavor 2mg.  It was the best thing I ever did.  

I now chew Orbit Mint Mojita constantly...but that's ok.  It is better than smoking.  

I cannot believe how much more energy I have and how much better my allergies are. Not to mention no more sinus infections.  

So to digress, I think the real reason I quit smoking was because I am such a control freak and I didn't like being controlled by a cigarette.

I thought:  Now why am I gonna buy a product that the government is taxing me on so high and then they tell me I can't use it anywhere?  So another reason to quit smoking is: If you are sick of this government, then quit smoking and quit giving your money to them.  

What a great new anti-smoking campaign that would be:
Sick & Tired of the Government telling you WHERE and WHEN you can SMOKE?
Avenge Yourself & Get Back At The Government: QUIT SMOKING !

off my soapbox now!

[FMXSMKR]

Great Post!!  

LOVE the campaign!

Congratulations on your 2yr quit!!

I live in CA and nope...can't smoke anywhere anymore and that's NOT a complaint.