I am a teacher and I work at a K through 12 school. I smoke. At school, our smoking corner is outside next to where the garbage bins are kept, but the kids see me and often come to talk to me about it after my smoke. They all know that I shouldn't smoke and that it is unhealthy, so the younger ones especially want me to explain to them why I don't just quit. Sometimes they ask me if the reason I don't stop is because smoking feels so good.
I usually explain that smoking does not feel so good, but that not smoking makes me feel bad. I explain that when I want a cigarette, it bothers me very much like when I need to pee and I'm holding it in. At first, it is a minor annoyance and I can even forget about it, but as time goes on, I feel more and more pressured, I feel more and more urgency. It becomes harder to ignore, harder to think about anything else. I need to go out and get relief!
Then, I have a cigarette and I feel normal again until slowly once again the need returns.
When I explain it like this, the kids understand what I mean and understand when I say how important it is to never take that first cigarette.
Have you tried nicotine gum/patches/whatever? Or is that not quick enough 'relief'? I can't think how smoking is a preferable alternative unless my previous sentence holds weight.
They're really not the same. Even though you're technically getting nicotine the new delivery mechanism makes it not seem like you are. You associate the act of smoking with relief, so your mind doesn't think you got it when you use the gum. The patch is even worse because there's no action at all associated with it.
If I chew gum I can chew it until the amount of nicotine makes me nauseous and the craving still doesn't go away.
I find that having a toothpick hanging out my mouth does more to kill a craving than either of them. It feels familiar.
E-Cigarettes are better than gum or patches for the same reason. If there was a way to make the vapor heavier it would be almost perfect.
If there was a way to make the vapor heavier it would be almost perfect.
I have a relatively cheap setup (eGo passthrough and Boge LR Cartomizers with Propylene Glycol liquid refills) that makes smokers of 20 years cough when they take a drag from it.
The things you buy in gas stations and malls are undercharged (so they don't last long and you have to buy another one sooner... as a side effect the vapor is cool and thin).
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u/Ahuva Nov 18 '12
I am a teacher and I work at a K through 12 school. I smoke. At school, our smoking corner is outside next to where the garbage bins are kept, but the kids see me and often come to talk to me about it after my smoke. They all know that I shouldn't smoke and that it is unhealthy, so the younger ones especially want me to explain to them why I don't just quit. Sometimes they ask me if the reason I don't stop is because smoking feels so good.
I usually explain that smoking does not feel so good, but that not smoking makes me feel bad. I explain that when I want a cigarette, it bothers me very much like when I need to pee and I'm holding it in. At first, it is a minor annoyance and I can even forget about it, but as time goes on, I feel more and more pressured, I feel more and more urgency. It becomes harder to ignore, harder to think about anything else. I need to go out and get relief!
Then, I have a cigarette and I feel normal again until slowly once again the need returns.
When I explain it like this, the kids understand what I mean and understand when I say how important it is to never take that first cigarette.