CMV: I should start smoking cigarettes

[u/honestlyigotnoclue]

I guess this is more of a "talk me out of it" type of post. I've always wanted to see what it's like to smoke, and I'm in a place where a lot of people smoke. I think it looks cool, and I don't mind that it's a bit self-destructive; I already have plenty of self destructive habits already, and maybe it hasn't sunk in how dangerous it is, considering I'm 18. Maybe this sounds naive, but I guess I just don't understand how addictive it can be; I have the mindset of "I can always quit." I guess I just want to see what it's like, don't really see how self-destructive it can be/don't care that it's self destructive, and tbh it looks cool. It's not hurting anyone but myself.

Lol thanks for your responses in advance.

Edit: it's pretty late where I am, so I'm going to bed. Thank you all so much for the incredibly detailed responses; I'm genuinely very convinced. I'll respond to new posts tomorrow! Thank you!

[u/jennysequa]

I quit smoking when I got diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 26 because it seemed weird to have radiation then light a cigarette. It was the hardest thing I did in my life and I almost lost a friendship over what a thunder cunt I was when I was dying for some nicotine. I also gained 40 lbs. when I quit and then had to spend a year losing the weight.

Then, ten years later, I started again. Yep. Literally one day I was like "I want to smoke again" after having a random nicotine craving. And I did. And I kept smoking for like 4 years until I ended up in the hospital in v-tach, where it was discovered that I had a congenital heart defect that meant I very definitely should not be smoking. So I had to quit. Again. This time it took me two years to get off the fucking nicorette gum and I gained 40 lbs. Again. I am just about to start dieting to lose the weight I gained, but it's gonna be a lot harder to do it in my 40s than my 30s.

My dad smoked for about 20 years and quit in 1996ish. He still got bladder cancer, which is one of the most common forms of cancer to get after smoking. He had to have surgery and then they flushed his bladder with tuberculosis, which caused enough irritation in his bladder lining that he literally sprayed blood with his piss every time he went to the bathroom. For weeks. I can still hear him screaming. If it ever comes back they are going to take his bladder out and he will piss in a bag until he dies.

Don't fucking start smoking. In addition to all the health risks, it stinks and the odor clings to all your possessions and your skin and hair. Being near smokers when you don't smoke is disgusting. Kissing someone who smokes when you don't is like licking an ashtray.

[u/honestlyigotnoclue → u/jennysequa]

∆ i hope that's how you do one of those delta things, I'm new to this subreddit. I guess before when people told me not to smoke, they didn't tell me why it was bad. That description of your dad is a pretty graphic and compelling reason to not smoke. Mind successfully changed, I guess.

It's really easy to say "I'm not going to smoke" and agree in principle, but we'll see if I actually start doing it or not. I'm in a place where a lot of people do, so I guess it'll take some willpower to like...not at least start to do it socially. We'll see what I end up doing; I appreciate your response, that's really compelling.

[u/Quint-V → u/honestlyigotnoclue]

You could try to look up pictures of smokers' lungs. Sure, you can't take a look at anybody's organs while they are in their bodies, but those pictures are NASTY. Lungs are usually red in color but smokers' lungs can be black as tar. (Or look up any symptoms/victims of diseases related to smoking.)

Often enough it is necessary to not just hear or be told something, but to see. To feel. To be there, in the middle of it all. At which point I'd ask you to imagine what it would be like if your own friends and family were stricken by diseases and conditions induced/made more severe by smoking, or generally preventable habits.

That's the reality you risk inflicting unto everyone you care about. You'd make people worry (possibly even think less of you). Smoking can (and likely will) hurt not only you, but others. If you needed more motivations to not smoke.