This morning I came across this old post originally done by taff. I remember how awed I was when first read this, so I saved and edited the contents of it. I just searched the old posts and found the original has been chopped off, so here's the edited original.
Keep up the great quits everyone...and please keep adding reasons!
:)
Pat
1. Smoking is a strong addiction. Smokers exhibit physical, psychological, and even emotional dependencies. This is why some smokers will smoke their way to the morgue even when they had time to turn it around. You may feel helpless, but you can quit smoking.
2. Smoking is considered a weakness of the spirit, mind and body.
3. I personally was able to quit with much less hell to go through than I expected. Many people quit smoking forever every day. You must have a strong desire to quit smoking. You must make a firm commitment to quit smoking.
4. I have an opportunity to get off and stay off cigarettes, I am grateful for this. I will not waste this awesome opportunity.
5. With good smoking cessation programs, 20 to 40 percent of participants are able to quit smoking and stay off cigarettes for at least one year.
6. Cigarette addiction is no fun.
7. Smoking cigarettes is not fun. Real fun makes you feel good for a long while, not just a few minutes. I think Tennis is fun, but I don't whip out my racket every 5 minutes, 12 hours a day, 365 days a year!
8. Real fun does not need to take cigarette breaks. Remember the fun you used to have as a child? You did not need cigarettes then to have fun, and you do not need them now.
9. A little discipline goes a long way. A little discipline enables one to work focused, work steady, think focused, limit breaks, stay relaxed, stay on course, finish the project at hand. A little discipline allows one to stay steady until "This, too, shall pass."
10. For me, smoking is wrong.
11. Smoking is a gateway drug. More than 90% of people who use illegal drugs smoke cigarettes.
12. Cigarettes are commonly used as a torture device.
13. The majority of criminals (felons) smoke.
14. Smoking leads innocent kids astray. 3,000 young people begin smoking every day.
15. A child who sees their coach, pastor, counselor, or any mentor or adult in authority smoking, is more likely to imitate that behavior.
16. One out of three first time users of tobacco will become addicted.
17. Heroes do not smoke. Champions do not smoke.
18. Smoking destroys life.
19. Smoking is self-destructive. Smoking destroys this temple God gave me.
20. Smoking is a wasteful habit. My productivity in almost any activity is crippled or seriously diminished by constant cigarette smoking and cigarette craving. The time, money, dedication, thought, energy and resources that go into smoking are wasted.
21. Smoking looks stupid.
22. Smoking IS stupid.
23. Smoking is expensive.
24. Money spent on tobacco goes to the wrong people.
25. Money spent on tobacco goes to make more cigarettes.
26. Money spent on tobacco goes to tobacco advertising and promotion to get more people addicted.
27. Smoking is selfish.
28. Money spent on that carton could have sent Junior to camp, or Missy to dance class.
29. Money spent on that carton could have bought Junior some decent shoes or pants without holes, or Missy a nice haircut or new dress.
30. Instead of buying Missy and Junior some rainbow pops in the August heat, you spent your last two dollars on goddamn death sticks.
31. Smoking related illness costs the economy at least 100 billion dollars in health care and lost productivity at work.
32. Smoking kills people I love with sickness, cancer and disease.
33. Smoking causes lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease.
34. Smoking hardens the arteries.
35. Smoking reduces taste and smell sensitivity.
36. Fires caused by smoking kill people and children.
37. Fires caused by smoking burn millions of acres of virgin, pristine forest every year.
38. Fires caused by smoking burn down people's homes.
39. Explosions caused by smoking kill people and children.
40. Fumbling for or lighting a cigarette while driving results in many fatal car collisions.
41. Smoking harms, retards, and cripples children in the womb when Mothers smoke.
42. Second-hand smoke is resented by and aggravating to bystanders.
43. Second-hand smoke is harmful to those who breathe it continually.
44. Smoking makes my breath stink.
45. Smoking makes my clothes stink.
46. Smoking makes my car stink.
47. Smoking makes my body stink.
48. Smoking stinks, period.
49. Smoking has been shown to make lines on the face.
50. Smoking invariably leaves ash burns on clothing, furniture, car interior, and body.
51. Smoking is butt-ugly. Cigarette butts are ugly and disgusting eyesores.
52. A cigarette butt along a forest path is disappointing. A cigarette butt outside the church door makes me sad.
53. Smoking causes addictive, insane thoughts: "When's my next cigarette?", "Do I have enough cigarettes to make it thru the day?", "How many packs do I have to get me thru the week?", "Where did I leave that half-gone pack I smoked?" Even when I was smoking a cigarette I was thinking about the next one...
54. Smoking causes fear... "What if I can't smoke during the retreat?", or "What if my cigarettes get wet in this rainstorm?" 55. Smoking causes agitation, nervousness, even crazy fear when you can not smoke, or are getting low on smokes.
56. Smoking causes rude behavior..."How long is this damn wedding going to take? I need a cigarette, I'm leaving... (Quitting smoking also causes rude behavior, you will be a SOB for a while, until the demon named Nic is kicked out of your life!)
57. Hacking cough.
58. Nasty lung tissue.
59. Constant craving for nicotine.
60. Lack of energy.
61. Shame. Ashamed in front of kids, peers, family and friends.
62. Smoking limits opportunities. We are too ashamed of addiction to seek out positions such as coach, teacher, mentor, public office.
63. Most people do not smoke, have never smoked, and do not have the desire to smoke.
64. The overwhelming majority of people, 75%, 3 out of 4 people do not smoke.
65. Most people flourish without cigarettes and live full lives of excitement, joy, sadness, fulfillment, love, defeat, tragedy, challenge and victory WITHOUT tobacco.
66. Smoking is a relatively new addiction among civilized society. Tobacco addiction was limited to native Americans before Columbus brought the evil weed to Europe in 1492. Tobacco did not reach the masses until 1900. 1963 was the peak of smoking, and is now on the way OUT.
67. Smoking does not define who I am.
68. Smoking is not a hobby, unless you consider slow suicide a hobby. Smoking is a useless, worthless, meaningless waste of time.
69. Smoking is an addiction, a scourge, blight, a plague, a disease, and a sickness on humanity and civilization.
70. Society is waging righteous war against tobacco addiction. I can be a soldier in this war and help save people, including children, from misery, disease, and early death.
71. I am making a true and righteous decision by simply not smoking, and not paying my money to tobacco companies.
72. Smoking statistics are sad and horrible.
73. More than 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco-related disease.
74. One in two long-term smokers will die early as a result of smoking, from one of the three main diseases; lung cancer, lung disease (bronchitis and emphysema) and coronary heart disease.
75. Smoking is responsible for one in five U.S. deaths.
76. Smoking causes thirty per cent of all cancer deaths (including at least 80% of lung cancer deaths), 17% of all heart disease deaths and at least 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema.
77. Deaths caused by smoking are more than 5 times the total deaths resulting from: road accidents, poisoning and overdose, other accidental deaths, murder and manslaughter, suicide, and HIV infection.
78. Tobacco advertising targets the most vulnerable in our society, the poor. Tobacco advertising glamorizes smoking, which is a total LIE.
79. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I am sick of "smoking like a chimney", and I am tired of being a "cigarette fiend".
80. Those who succeed in quitting are much more likely than unsuccessful quitters to come to some important realizations about themselves.
81. Think of yourself as a non-smoker, and you will eventually realize you are a non-smoker.
82. Smoking is no longer socially acceptable, unless you are a druggie, hillbilly, scumbag, criminal, or barfly.
83. 4000 chemical compounds are produced when tobacco burns, including lethal nasty poisons.
84. Burning tobacco produces the poison Acetone (damages vessel walls).
85. Burning tobacco produces the poison Arsenic (stops your heart).
86. Burning tobacco produces the poison Benzene (Ultra deadly poison).
87. Burning tobacco produces the poison Carbon Monoxide (insidious killer replaces oxygen).
88. Burning tobacco produces the poison DDT (damages your DNA).
89. Burning tobacco produces the poison Formaldehyde (carcinogen).
90. Burning tobacco produces the poison Hydrazine (heavy carcinogen).
91. Burning tobacco produces the poison Hydrogen Cyanide (damages vessel walls, stops your heart).
92. Burning tobacco produces the poison Nicotine (1/10 of a teaspoon will kill you).
93. Burning tobacco produces the poison Pyrene (stops your heart).
94. Burning tobacco produces the poison Vinyl Chloride (carcinogen, hardens arteries).
95. Burning tobacco produces the poison Toluene (heavy carcinogen, causes brain damage).
96. Burning tobacco produces the poisons Acrolein, Cadmium, Ammonia, etc.....
97. Cigarettes commonly include Polonium 210 - a radioactive element. Smoking 20 cigarettes a day for a year is equivalent to receiving the radiation of about 200 chest x-rays!
98. Tobacco is the only legal drug that kills you when you "use as directed".
99. Today is a good time to quit. Social pressure is weighing in heavily against smoking. Currently, there is an anti-tobacco campaign in full swing. Smoking has steadily declined since its peak in 1963. 1998 numbers of people smoking matched 1942 numbers. There is also a lot of organized support out there for you.
100. Each year about 1,300,000 smokers quit successfully !!!!
101. I would kinda like to be around to watch my kids and grand-kids grow up...
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/28/2007
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 245
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 9,800
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $3,430.00
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 28 [B]Hrs:[/B] 22 [B]Mins:[/B] 34 [B]Seconds:[/B] 6
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Quit Meter
$125,068.80
Amount Saved
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Quit Meter
Days: 996
Hours: 5
Minutes: 31
Seconds: 52
Life Gained
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Quit Meter
6514
Smoke Free Days
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Quit Meter
312,672
Cigarettes Not Smoked