Smoking is bad for you.

If any generation knows that, our generation does. We’re the ant-smoking campaign generation. We’re the ones who saw the pictures of the lungs before and after someone spent their lives smoking. We’re the kids who were told not to cave to peer pressure. The ones who sat through D.A.R.E. classes and school assemblies and were told before we ever encountered a cigarette that smoking kills. So we know the dangers, those of us who smoke and those of us who have never smoked. We’re well informed and well aware, and people make their own decisions for their own reasons regardless.

There will never be a world where no one smokes. (Maybe I’ll eat my words someday, but I’d do so gladly.) So why exactly is the campaign to rid the world of smoking still a big issue? Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg signed a law banning smoking in public places like parks and beaches. And now, according to Gawker, the government is asking tobacco companies to publish corrective statements on their advertisements and marketing materials, statements that read, “Smoking is very addictive. And it’s not easy to quit…We manipulated cigarettes to make them more addictive… When you smoke, the nicotine actually changes the brain—that’s why quitting is so hard.”  This is just one of many, and they do get harsher. And while part of me revels in the fact that tobacco companies are finally being forced to admit to just how harmful their products are, another part of me knows this will make no difference at all.

Read More »

I know I’ve taken a mini-hiatus for the holidays on my no smoking resolution, but let me fill you in. The holidays for me require lots of drinks, food, laughs, and the obligatory smoke here and there. So, I let myself smoke when I wanted for the holiday…I smoked up until New Years Eve. One week ago.

And since then, I have been completely 100% smoke free.

No packs. No puffs. No nothing. I went completely cold turkey after NYE and I’ve maintained it for an entire week. It’s very difficult; especially when I had a few glasses of wine this weekend and desperately wanted one, but I had the will power to say NO to myself.

I am a strong willed person and if I set my mind to something, I stick to it. After seeing a series of horrific smoking commercials, I made a serious resolution to myself that, on top of not wanting my teeth to turn yellow and my hair to permanently smell like an ashtray, I don’t want to die from lung cancer (cliché but true).

So, for now, I’ve a week smoke free. I feel cleaner, healthier, and will hopefully continue on this path. Wish me luck!

(Photo courtesy of smokefreezone.org)

Bad news for smokers in Boston. The Boston Public Health Commission has just banned the sale of tobacco products at colleges in the city.

Yes, colleges! Full of adults of legal age for purchasing tobacco.

Why? Well, to protect your health, the city claims. And to keep little kids from puffing down the cancer sticks. Anti-smoking advocates think this new ruling is just gravy: “Boston has taken another step that puts it in the forefront in the United States in protecting people against secondhand smoke.”

Personally, I think the ruling seems to be a little whack.

First of all, not selling cigarettes to 21-year-old college students will not prevent minors from getting their hands on them. And if second-hand-smoke is the issue here, how can the city stop the sale of all tobacco products? Sure, dipping isn’t sexy, but it also doesn’t harm me (unless you consider how visually offensive it is). Read More »

I have come to the conclusion that I will never actually stop smoking if I continue to let myself smoke at all, even if it’s just when I am drinking. For example, I went out to a Japanese Steakhouse on Friday night and had myself a lovely eight cigarettes, but justified it because I had a drink in my hand. Then, I rationed that it was acceptable to smoke an entire pack (yeah, you heard me) between Saturday and Sunday because I was out being social with people, having a drink here or there.

When I woke up Sunday morning hacking a lung, I realized that I had two decisions: A) Give up on my quest to quit smoking, succumb to my urges, and light up whenever I feel like it, or B) Make a serious decision about my health and realize that if I continue down this road I could have cancer in 20 years.

So, I chose the latter and have decided to go cold turkey. No packs. No one here, one there. No drags. I’m not going to kick this thing if I continue to allow myself to cheat.

It’s Wednesday and I have successfully gone without smoking a cigarette for three whole days. My running feels better and so does my overall body. While the cravings are still strong, my will to want to be rid of this habit has (for now) remained stronger. I just hope that next weekend, when I’m out having drinks at my company’s holiday party or out on the town with my boyfriend and friends, I don’t feel compelled to sneak outside and steal a drag.

Think cold turkey was a good move CC-ers? Give me some strength to get through the very trying days (big holiday dinners with lots of annoying family members) ahead. I can use all the help I can get.

(Photo courtesy of www.nmhypnosis.com)

[Our writer, Kelly, has made it her goal to quit smoking and share her experiences with you. We have been following her for two weeks now. Here is her latest progress.]

Well, I’ve been trying to refrain from smoking at all, but – geez – it is tough. Last week wasn’t too bad – I smoked maybe one or two a day and had a day or two where I didn’t smoke a cig at all. Even better, I didn’t even crave one – score!

But, then, I went to a Halloween party last weekend where I buckled and smoked about ten cigarettes in one night. I know, bad girl, Kelly; but honestly, with all the liquor, I just let myself go with the smoking…again. There’s something about needing a smoke with my vodka soda, or my glass of red wine that I just can’t seem to shake. Am I the only one?

After my lovely smoking binge of Friday, I tried to calm down the rest of the weekend. And I did. I smoked only one or two cigarettes a day for the rest of the weekend.

On my way to work on Monday, though, I almost put my car in park and asked the guy in traffic behind me, who was smoking a cig, if I could bum one. Then I realized how crazy and pathetic I would have looked, so I stopped myself. I didn’t have a cigarette that morning, and I didn’t have one for the rest of the day. I made a conscious decision to either go big – and do it as close to cold turkey as I can until I can finally withdraw myself from the cravings – or not do it at all. And not doing it at all is not an option. Read More »

Well, we all – even the smokers like myself – know smoking is a bad habit. I have been smoking on and off since I was 14 and, not to date myself, with almost 10 years of smoking under my belt, I have decided it is time to try and kick the bad ‘ole habit once and for all.

Because quitting is really effing hard, I am going to share my journey with and you, CollegeCandies. I hope this inspires you to join me…and inspires me to stick with it. Smoking kills thousands and thousands of people each year and I don’t want to be part of the statistics.

So, week one, here is the progress to date:

After smoking a pack every two days, a few weeks ago I decided not to buy packs anymore. Translation: I’d only mooch my cigarettes, which I hate doing. I figured this would cut my daily intake drastically. And it did, for a few days. Then, one weekend after having a few too many cocktails (my prime time to smoke), I caved and bought a pack… and proceeded to smoke the entire pack in one evening.

Not so good for me considering I’m an avid runner who huffs and puffs on my daily run like I’m a 400 lb. man. Read More »