What do you think when you see someone smoking?

[Stewie]

I think "damn i wish i could still smoke". Damn this addiction!!

[Nancy]

I think "thank God I don't have to smoke, anymore".  You will get there, too, Stewie.

[Sirius]

I think "damn i wish i could still smoke". Damn this addiction!!

I had the same reaction during my first year or so of non-smoking.

 

That feeling/reaction gradually ameliorated into feeling sorry for smokers.

 

Its sort of like when I go into a Chevron Gas station and see all the packs of cigarettes

arrayed behind the cashier.    At first I was like, "ooooooh."

 

Now its, well "harumph, whatever."

[Doreensfree]

I just think it stinks..I carnt believe I smelt that way...

My best friend still smokes ..I watch and observe.. And see her get figety ,when she needs her next fix..

Don't envy them stewie..never doubt yourself..secretly they would love to be where you are..x

[Boo]

I can't help but wonder how many of them think they can't quit or it's too difficult to bother even trying.  I hope they figure out that freedom is attainable and quitting is very doable.  The sooner the better.

 

Can't really explain why, but even in the earliest days of my quit seeing others smoke didn't provoke any feelings of wanting one for myself.  Certain events and times triggered craves, but just seeing someone smoke didn't.  Within just a couple of weeks I did notice that cigarette smoke reeks.  

[Doreensfree]

This is right..its events and situations., where you always smoked ..

I sat on the back step every morning with my coffee and cig..changing my routine was weird..

But now..I don't even think about it..

[Sunnyside]

I don't really think anything of it now. They do their thing, I'm happy doing mine ;) Stewie you will get there. Just keep going forward.

[sharonsiff]

I don't take much notice really, yet it I was to think about it I'd think thank goodness that's not me anymore.

[Still winning]

Aww I remember thinking that too. Now I think thank goodness I'm past all of that or I feel sorry for them. Genuinely, just plod, this foot that foot, and it comes.

[Abby]

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What do you think when you see someone smoking?

Started by StewieTech, Today, 11:26 AM

 

Great question Stewie .

 

I have had a mixed bag of thoughts about that when I have seen smokers smoke over the last 5 and a half years .  

 

There were times when I saw people smoking( especially in the beginning ) of my quit that  I wished smoking was  "healthy".

 

There were times when I saw them smoking that I still wanted to smoke but I didn't . I knew it was the addict in me ; the "stinking thinking".  

 

There were times when I would see people smoking and I feel sorry for them . Sad actually . 

 

There are times now when I see people smoking that I want to go up and talk to them ; assure them that they can quit;  thats its not impossible . But I know it has to be in their time :(  If they seem open however I am not afraid to share that good news . 

 

I see them smoking and I know many of them hate smoking just like I did .  When I see them smoking I see their addiction needing to be fed just like mine used to have to be fed . 

 

Sometimes I see folks smoking and I think "they want to quit" ;  either they are not ready ; they  don't know how,  or they think they have more time .

 

I see them smoking outside the hospital doors and I think  "MY GOSH"  I used to be like that !  I think wow, was I was an addict !

 

Now when I see them smoking I think I am so grateful I don't smoke . I wish they would quit too .

 

Many times now I see them smoking ,  but now  I am an ex smoker that thinks like a non smoker . I just go on with my day . They go on with theirs  but I won't belittle them or make fun or be rude .  Its an addiction . 

 

I guess as my quit grew my thoughts changed towards smokers and smoking .

 

Smokers ; Great People Caught Up In Big Tobacco Lies :(

 

We can quit. We all can . 

[Runfree]

I always think yuck, and then I think how profoundly grateful I am to not be a prisoner to that addiction.  I'll always be an addict tho.  

 

The yearning will pass for sure.

[Evelyn]

I hate the smell, but and find it antisocial still when I watch the crown on Netflix where they smoke a lot or pretend, I can be like glad that's not know!

[Nicole Diver]

I think "damn i wish i could still smoke". Damn this addiction!!

Honestly I just feel like I wish they understood that they CAN get free. But it took me a little time to get to this point.

[MarylandQuitter]

Honestly I just feel like I wish they understood that they CAN get free. But it took me a little time to get to this point.

 

I was going to post exactly the same.

[Tink]

In the beginning I avoided them like the plague as much as I could, not that I hated them, more I was in the abstaining mode and I did not trust myself!  :dash2:

 

Then it was disgust at them or even (envy) and if I had to walk past a smoker mainly puffing away to an entrance! I would walk past holding my breath and nose and making myself look silly! go home shower and change clothes, paranoid smoke and nicotine was stuck all over me!  :bad:

 

Then I was fascinated by them (I was educated on nicotine addiction by then) so I just watched them from a distance and watched the truth unfolding right in front of me! confirming what I had learned.  :ph34r:

 

Then I felt pity for them and wished they could be free and this is what I feel to date.  :(

 

I have been through many of these cycles on my journey from envy to disgust to pity

 

and now I am grateful, that I am just a bystander....

 

stick to NOPE remember why you quit, what your journey has been like and bring your mindset back to pity for them or disgust, its nothing personal to them , they don`t have to know what you are feeling or thinking BUT it is crucial to YOU and your quit and it is very PERSONAL to you.

 

I bet if you had a conversation with any of them, most would change places with you in a heart beat! (the ones not in complete denial of course)

 

so flip the coin and the question should be - what do smokers think when they see an ex smoker? 

 

answer- Envy of you and amazement  :o

 

hold your head up, back straight as this is the road we walk now!  B)

[Soberjulie]

I can't pinpoint the day.

The day that I stopped looking at smokers with envy, wishing I could have 'just one more'.

I don't know when I turned the corner.....from being someone who was 'quitting smoking' to being a 'non-smoker'

I'm not aware of exactly when I stopped counting days/weeks/months and just settled into this lifestyle, this freedom from addiction.

 

I do know that when I see smokers now, I experience a mix of things.

-Empathy and sadness that they are still chained to something that might very well kill them, in a really ugly way.

-Revulsion. That stuff stinks. I mean, REALLY stinks. They are walking, talking, bodies of stink.

-Apathy. ~shrug~ Sometimes I just feel nothing at all. Everyone is on their own personal journey.....and for some, that will include suicide on the instalment plan. We cannot save people from themselves. All I can do is be ready to offer support when/if they decide to be free of addiction.

[sgt.barney]

What does Sarge think?

 

Absolutely nothing.

 

Not good. Not bad. Not a damned thing.

 

Most times Sarge doesn't even notice them anymore. Just folks in the background doing what everyday folks do.

 

Some smoke.

 

Some don't

 

Doesn't much matter to Sarge either way.

 

 

 

Easy Peasy

[El Bandito]

Sometimes - 

 

I walk through a cloud of smoke and think "I forgot how much that stuff choked me"

 

Otherwise, I don't notice smokers any more.

[REZ]

That used to be me!

 

Now move on, nothing to see anymore!

[ChRiSpY]

Like some others... I think nothing anymore.  It is just normal life stuff.

[bakon]

I don't think.

 

Village idiot.

 

Lick a window

[babs609]

Most of the time I don't think much of anything when I see them smoking

Then there are other times when I look at them and feel sorry for them and thankful that I no longer have to be a slave to that addiction especially when the weatheris bad or when I see them having to look on their face of guilt

I feel disgusted when I see someone in a car throwing a lit cigarette out the window or when I see someone littering on the beach yes I am judging them but it is disgusting

When I was watching the show 'this is us' last night I noticed the 70s early 80s when people still smoked all over the place couldn't help but notice it. It's what helps date the show

But most of the time I don't think anything which is such a relief