If you smoke cigarettes, all the more reason to quit!

As you may know, I used to be a smoker. I smoked for over a decade, actually, and quit when I found out I was pregnant with Nathan. I have been smoke-free for 2.5 years now and in retrospect I ask myself a lot, what was I thinking? When you’re a smoker, it’s hard to see through the fog (yeah, yeah pun intended). Intellectually, you know smoking is bad. Yet you defend smoking, make excuses for it, deny you have a problem. You know, typical addict behavior. But once you quit and you’re out of the fog, you can see VERY clearly just how insane it all is. 

Smoking is really addictive and it’s really hard to quit, and in retrospect, I see that smoking (and addiction… in general) is a very self-centered disease. Smokers tend to get VERY defensive when anyone tells them how dangerous it is for other people, especially their kids. They tell themselves it’s ok to smoke around their kids as long as they don’t blow the smoke in the kid’s face.

Smokers think that smoking only affects themselves, they completely deny they are driving up healthcare costs and giving non-smokers (including their kids) health problems as well. Recently, studies have come out showing that THIRD-hand smoke, which is the residue and toxins left behind from second-hand smoke, is just as deadly as second-hand smoke. You know when you step on an elevator after a smoker gets off and how it stinks of smoke? That smell is just one example of third-hand smoke. Now imagine someone who has kids smoking in their house or car… long after the second-hand smoke has dissipated, the kids touch stuff that has the residue left behind by second-hand smoke then put their hands in their mouths. It just gives those carcinogens more time to work in their little bodies. It’s so sad and there is no excuse for it. It’s 2010, everyone has heard how dangerous it is.

So anyway, here is an article I came across in the news talking about second-hand smoke… and how many people it kills a year. And next time you want to light up with your kids around, ask yourself… is it worth it? Is your addiction worth their health?

More than 600,000 killed by secondhand smoke – Health – Health care – More health news – msnbc.com.

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2 Comments

  1. Good on you, Jen. My MIL finally quit after 30+ years, to be around her grandkids. It’s really impressive to me that you managed to make that giant change for the sake of your wee one.
    .-= Falling´s last blog ..Back Again =-.

    • It definitely was not easy!!! In fact, quitting smoking was quite possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done… but SO worth it. CONGRATS to your MIL, now THAT is impressive… quitting after 30+ years must have been incredibly difficult!

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