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Personal Narrative I Quit Smoking
Everyone was starting to notice that I had a problem. My wife would ask, 'Are you O.K.?' as I hacked and coughed every morning. My friends would joke about how I would run short of breath just from walking to the car. My wallet was really talking to me! Somehow I managed to lose five or six dollars a day somewhere between home and the convenience store. But the only voice I would heed had to come from within myself. Finally one day it did.
I had been debating quitting smoking for the last few months. I would get very angry every time I went out to buy cigarettes because the prices seemed to change weekly. Every week there was a new tobacco settlement, and a new price hike. The "victims" of big tobacco were paying their own settlement it seemed. I grudgingly paid the $3.58 for a pack of Marlboros, while I thought about the Value Meal I could have purchased at the local McDonalds for roughly the same price. I was spending close to one hundred fifty dollars a month for the privilege of smoker's cough and the smell of an ashtray. In retrospect it doesn't seem like a very good bargain.
Of course I was also concerned with my health, and so was my family. My mother would see the yellow stains on my fingers and shake her head. "Imagine what your lungs look like!" she would say. I could just picture the little passageways in my lungs being choked off by the tar that stained my hands. My wife insisted that I quit smoking. I woke up hacking every morning. It had become part of my morning ritual. She couldn't understand why even short walks on the beach would have me wheezing
and fumbling for a cigarette. I used to be able to swim out to the breakers, but now I was relega...
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...owed all the lighters away. She has been instrumental to my success.
I have been smoke free for one month. I see, smell and taste the world in a whole new way. Although I always dispelled it as a wives tale, foods actually do taste better now. Other non-smoker friends of mine noticed that I didn't smell like a cigarette even before I told them I had quit. I can have a glass of beer in a bar without a cigarette, and I enjoy proving that fact every weekend. I ran, yes, ran the twenty yards to the mailbox today. I didn't have to stop and clutch my side or limp back to the house wheezing and
coughing either. I've saved approximately $150 so far, and who knows how many minutes or even hours I may have added to my life span. I wouldn't trade my new way of life for the old one for anything. Stopping smoking has really changed my life for the better.
When smokers quit-what are the benefits over time. (2014, Februrary 6). American Cancer Society. Retrieved from www.cancer.org
Brimelow states in his article “Smoking seems also to offer subtler health rewards to balance against its undisputed risks” (Brimelow 142). A few of these include a reduced risk of diseases such as Par...
I can understand why I found it cool, many people did, and still do. There’s some kind of dangerous and risky appeal to it. But, it’s place on my personal pedestals has definitely been replaced by other blooming trends and things I consider cool. There is no strong force still drawing me to smoking cigarettes and i’m thankful for that. Thankful that I listened to my parents and never smoked, and thankful that I wasn’t like some of those children from my hometown in India that actually got addicted. Before, I was drawn to smoking because it was strange and mysterious, yet it had some kind of elegance. Now that i’m more capable of understanding this thing and its side effects, therefore I feel no need to try it. More so, over the years it lost it’s power over me because as multitudes of facts and reports of its negative side effects were released and it became less idolized since more people realized how physically dangerous it
From my late teens, into my mid-twenties, I was a smoker. At first, it was just recreational; however that changed fairly quickly. I began buying them and smoking regularly throughout the day. It then progressed to smoking a pack per day until it was too late. I was officially addicted. I knew it was a terrible habit and I was shamed of it and would hide it from friends and family hoping they wouldn’t find out. Finally, after coughing hacking, and repeatedly getting sick several times a year, I came to the realization that I had to quit. However, it wasn’t as easy as I had anticipated. After relapsing several times before I was finally able to quit, I broke this terrible habit successfully. It was an extremely difficult habit to break and I’ll never go back. I was a lucky individual who had the mental toughness and willpower to overcome this strong addiction, but Americans struggle to quit each year, and many never do. However, there’s a new product on the market today called electronic cigarettes that are believed to aid individuals in the fight against addiction. It’s a battery powered device that heats a nicotine diluted solution into a vapor that is then inhaled. It’s believed to be a healthier, more affordable alternative to tobacco cigarettes. It is much safer because it doesn’t have nearly as many harmful chemicals as tobacco cigarettes and it’s believed to be much more affordable for consumers. However, many critics believe that electronic cigarettes are extremely addictive and just as harmful. Although electronic cigarettes are believed to be detrimental to people’s heath due to low quality product standards, harmful components in filling solution, and reports suggesting they’re addictive and just as harmful as toba...
It’s amazing how a horrific and negative life changing event can encourage and guide you in the path of your future. The end result may not be visible when it first takes place, but the process of a recovery can be extremely educational. You see, I was provided the opportunity of job shadowing firsthand the fields of athletic training and physical therapy due to a knee injury. I believe the majority of people would consider a severely damaged knee a dramatic setback in life. I was able to find the silver lining during the recovery.
Because of all the negative effects of smoking, the sale of cigarettes has been taxed heavily. The ingredients in cigarettes, especially flavored cigarettes, make it difficult for smokers to quit. In the last few years, both federal and state taxes have increased for tobacco products in the hopes of trying to reduce the number of smokers. The revenue from the tax is used to fund several health related companies. However, some smokers have started to buy cigarettes illegally in order to avoid the tax.
Every year cigarette smoking is responsible for 500,000 premature deaths (Nugel), you do not want to be just another statistic, do you? America’s first cash crop was tobacco. That means that tobacco has been around for a really long time. It was not until 1865, though, that cigarettes were sold commercially. They were sold to soldiers at the end of the Civil War (Dowshen). From then, cigarettes spread like wildfire, and it was not until 1964 that anyone made a stand about the negative effects of tobacco and cigarettes. People start smoking for all different reasons, some to fit in and some to “escape”. Regardless, it is a horrible habit. 3900 children will try their first cigarette today. Amongst adults who currently smoke, 68% of them began at age 18 or younger, and 85% at 21 or younger (American Lung Association). And of all those people, 70% say if they were given another chance they would never have picked up that first cigarette (Tobacco Free Maine). Smoking is responsible for 1 and 5 deaths in the united states, and is the number one preventable cause of death (NLH). Smoking burns and there is no doubt about that, but before one picks up that cigarette, understand the negative effects on not only oneself, but others affected by ones poor choices, like second-hand smoke. Because of smoking cigarettes, many types of cancer, decrease of life quality, and negative health effects have become all too common in the world today.
This year alone cigarettes will kill over 420,000 Americans, and many more will suffer from cancers, and circulatory and respiratory system diseases. These horrible illnesses were known to come from cigarettes for years. Recently the Food and Drug Administration declared nicotine, the main chemical in cigarettes, addictive. This explains why smokers continue to use cigarettes even though smokers are aware of the constantly warned about health dangers in cigarettes. Some researchers have also found out that smoking by pregnant women causes the deaths of over 5,000 babies and 115,000 miscarriages. The only way to get rid of the suffering and loss of life by cigarettes is to ban them. . For years cigarettes have been known to cause cancer, emphysema, and other horrible illnesses. The deaths of over 420,000 of Americans this year will be do to cigarettes. With all the other causes of deaths, alcohol, illegal drugs, AIDS, suicide, transportation accidents, fires, and guns, cigarettes still count for more deaths than those do combined. We can’t stand and watch people die because they smoke cigarettes. Thousands of smokers try to rid themselves of cigarettes but can't because of additive nicotine. Nicotine was recently declared addictive by the Food and Drug Administration, which explains why many smokers continue to smoke despite the health warnings on cigarette smoking. Nicotine makes it almost impossible for cigarette smokers to quit smoking because of its addictive nature, and with the cigarette manufacturers putting just enough nicotine in the so they cant be outlawed. The benefits of outlawing cigarettes greatly outnumber the disadvantages, for example, many scientists believe a link between smoking and a shortened life span exists between the two, a ban on cigarettes could increase life spans. Many studies suggest that billions of dollars now spent on smoking related. Smoking related illnesses could be reduced by outlawing cigarettes, families could save money by not purchasing cigarettes, and accidental fires costing millions of dollars caused by cigarettes would stop. Although a complete ban on cigarettes currently remains almost impossible, several organizations recently helped create a bill that could control cigarettes much in the same way the government now controls drugs. One such organization, the Food and Drug Administration, headed by David Kesslar drafted a major part, which would require manufacturers to disclose the 700 chemical additives in cigarettes, reduce the level of harmful chemicals, require cigarette companies to warn of the addictive nicotine, restrict tobacco advertising and promotion, and control the level of nicotine cigarettes contain.
Adults are not the only ones suffering from the illnesses due to smoking. Approximately 4 million children become ill from being exposed to secondhand smoke. (http://community.healthgate.com) Children exposed to secondhand smoke and smoking parents have an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death syndrome, asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonias and the list goes on. Another sad thing due to parents smoking is most likely there children will follow them in that footstep. Adults don’t put this into any consideration, that the choice’s that they make now, will be affecting there children’s health.
Many people have given up smoking in exchange for vaping. Many vapers that were former smokers have found there are some side effects to vaping. However these side effects have proven to be temporary. One ex-smoker has created a website that shares his story as well as his findings on the use of vapes and e-cigarettes in his own personal life. The side effects he found were “Dry skin, Dry mouth, Rash/burning sensation on face, Itchiness, Puffy/dry eyes, Caffeine sensitivity, Minor blood nose issues”. Theses side effects however were much milder than the side effects he found corresponding to Cold-Turkey quitting of tobacco which include “’Quit zits’, Bleeding gums, Susceptibility to colds and the flu, Various skin issues, Anxiety, An increase in coughing, Dizziness, Insomnia, Dry throat”. Some of the side effects of smoking can prove to be life-long problems that eventually lead to
.I believe that the Tobacco industry is unethical, They provide a product that causes addiction and eventual death if smoking continues thought the majority of a person’s life. I think that the tobacco industry needs to take more responsibility for their product. I believe they should do this by not advertising on the false image of being a cigarette smoker and focus on what consumers are actually going to receive for their money when purchasing cigarettes. They should focus on the feeling it gives people, and what the cigarette experience actually is in the most literal terms. Also cigarette companies should tell costumers upfront in easy to read labels the long term and short term effects of smoking to let people clearly know what they are buying and what it’s effects are.
The sale of cigarettes and tobacco is a multi-billion dollar industry, but is it truly worth all the problems that stem from their use? Health care costs are extremely high due to all the health problems associated with cigarettes and tobacco. Even though research has proven time and time again the harmful effects of cigarettes, and the rising cost of health care caused by cigarettes, our government will not take a stand and stop all manufacturing of the horrible toxins. Every year, new medical reports are issued regarding the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world die every year from diseases caused by smoking.
There have been tons of things that I have learned and been taught in my life, by a number of people such as family, teachers, or even friends on occasion. The things they taught me vary from math and other related subjects to just some truly simple yet meaningful life lessons. However, there is nothing quite as unique, quite as special as a person teaching themselves a life lesson. It really is an amazing accomplishment for a person to teach themselves something. It is not quite as simple as another person teaching them something because it is not just the transferring of information from one person to another. The person instead has to start from scratch and process the information they have in their mind in order to come up with a new thought
In conclusion if you want to live long and not have to deal with the health risk that is involved, do not even think to start smoking a cigarette. I am on the wrong track and not healthy and after all of this research I just might quit smoking cigarettes. Staying smoke-free will give you a whole lot more of everything, more energy, better performance, better looks, more money in your pocket, and in the long run more life to live (Smoking).
I never really thought about where my life was going. I always believed life took me where I wanted to go, I never thought that I was the one who took myself were I wanted to go. Once I entered high school I changed the way I thought. This is why I chose to go to college. I believe that college will give me the keys to unlock the doors of life. This way I can choose for myself where I go instead of someone choosing for me.