Quitting Smoking?
Basically, I'm kind off tossing up between quitting smoking now, and maybe continuing at a low level for the forseeable future.
I'm 22, never touched a cigarette untill I was 20, smoked occassionally for a about a year, and for the past year have smoked about 2-3 packs a week.
The thing is, despite all the anti-smoking campaigns, I don't really have the concept in my mind that this will kill me.
I do see middle-aged people who look terrible from smoking, and hear the horror stories, but also see people who look healthy, attractive, successfull etc in their 30s smoking and it doesn't seem so bad.
I do REALLY enjoy it when drinking, hanging out with friends, and image does play a (small) part (though not in a peer-pressure way).
Tonight, I started searching the net for facts, images, stories etc so as to be more emotionally and logically aware of the possible outcomes of continuing smoking-and hopefully quitting as a result. Some were good, though one really backed my opposing desire:
"if you stop smoking before the age of about 35, your life expectancy is only slightly less than people who have never smoked"
So where I am, and I guess where I turn to you for thoughts is:
1. Part of me would like really to smoke socially, say about a pack a week, maybe till my early 30's. And, according to the above, maybe it'll only mean something like living till 78 instead of 80 -but have the benefit of enjoying smoking now, and the social side of it in the best years (socially).
2. Another part of me really doesn't want to get cancer etc, and knows I will feel better in the general health sense.
3. Then I also wonder about if I do 'quit', and have a ciggarette on occasion, is that really so bad?
Thanks for reading all this, and many thanks in advance for any answers posted, cheers.