soopervyln,
I didn't want to talk (respond) about this, but I looked at your thread anyway. I'm surprised (and disappointed) that so many of you started so young. Perhaps some of you would be good enough to explain the attraction/persuasion/influences that led you to start smoking. Advertising? Were you rural/urban? Peer pressure? Etc.
I did a lot of drugs during the 1960s and 1970s. Imagine the largest closet in your house chock full of Darvon, Valium, Qualudes, psilocybin, ..., peyote, pot, drugs whose names I don't even remember. (I never had much use for ....... or heroine; they didn't have any noticeable affect on me) When I graduated from college in 1980 (I know, before most of you were even born) I decided that it would be best to quit drugs because I needed to embark on a career, you know get serious! On my first job, I was out in the middle of nowhere and had a long ride home (two days on a fast pony), and a guy was smoking Chesterfields. I asked if I could bum one for the ride, and he gave me a whole pack! I was thrilled! I'm off drugs, and now I have something legal!
Of course, Chesterfields were horrible, but I soon made the cigarette/coffee and cigarette/beer connection, and I was a smoker! No more illegal drugs! I can smoke anywhere! That was the 80s. And I've been an addict ever since. For me, there is nothing that I've ever consumed that led to an addiction. Except cigarettes!
So soop. Here's my response. Started about 25 years ago, I was about 26 years old, and I'm now smoking about half as much as a week ago. I just started vaping and hope to work the bugs out soon, but a reminder to those that are discouraged. There isn't anything more addictive than cigarettes, and they're legal. Don't be too ambitious or you'll likely fail. For the first time ever, I wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble falling to sleep. So what! Get out of bed, get a large glass of water, and smoke a couple of analogs! Water is good! Lying awake in bed solves nothing!
God love and bless you all!
