Myth Busters - Smoking Edition

[notsmokinjo]

So came across this today when I fell into a Google hole. There are some very interesting points raised here... And saddly I believed many of these before educating myself ....used quite a few to justify my smoking.

 

https://blogs.bmj.com/tc/2016/03/23/20-myths-about-smoking-that-will-not-die/

 

[Sazerac]

I, along with many, believed that smoking chilled me out

and would reach for a smoke to calm me down.

It was a colossal revelation when I learned that I was only relieving the anxiety caused by low nicotine levels !

Edited June 30, 2019 by Sazerac

[notsmokinjo]

Yep...I 'needed' to smoke to control my anxiety....can honestly say my anxiety is better as a non smoker. Smoking just amplified my anxiety. 

 

I had given up everything else, so it was the only thing I had left....oh and biggest myth I told myself, it was better for the kid if I kept smoking because I would be too agro trying to quit to be a good mum.

 

 

[Sazerac]

I won't be 'Me' without smoking was another huge myth.

 

Although I was enamored of my smoking persona and defiant with denial,

these were only by-products of my addiction.

 

When I learned the truth about addiction,  my idiocy was revealed.

 

[Martian5]

Reading this was an eye opener on a couple of the points and I actually bought into a couple of them when I was a smoker.  I am kind of ashamed to admit that when I was younger I kind of fell into the "we all have to die of something" myth so why not smoking -- some of the stupid things that I did.  Anyway I have quit and my eyes are opened to what smoking really does -- help keeps me grounded!!!

[Boo]

6 hours ago, Martian5 said:

I am kind of ashamed to admit that when I was younger I kind of fell into the "we all have to die of something" myth so why not smoking -- some of the stupid things that I did.

 

Same here.  I rolled out those two old tropes "we're all gonna die of something" and "nobody gets out alive" to justify my addiction on a regular basis.  As an addict, you have to learn to turn a blind eye to your own bullshit.

 

Fortunately, I eventually got tired of that guy in the mirror lying to me every day.  That was when I was able to start making some positive changes in my life.

[notsmokinjo]

Have to say one where Big Tobacco tried to convince countries to get their people to smoke because it was in the national interest....this was in the 90s...that's 1990s....scraping the barrels of scum there.

[greenlight]

I also thought I wouldn't be "me" if I quit smoking. Totally resonate with thinking I would somehow lose my identity if I stopped -  what a load of BS that turned out to be!! I was also under the majorly false impression that it relieved stress - the actual truth is it caused stress for me. I was always worrying if I have enough cigarettes/if there's somewhere I can buy some more/what if I run out/when can I have my next fix and the list goes on and on and on. I am not someone who is prone to being stressed easily and cigarettes have actually been the only bloody thing that have consistently ever stressed me out.