I am an occassional social smoker. Once in a while, with friends, and usually while drinking. Cigars are more fun, though. I get the mouth feel and taste, but my lungs aren't as torn up by it. It's been years since I had a cigar or a cigarette.
During my more formative years, I didn't know anyone who made smoking sexy. The family members who smoked would do so to excess. Even when my asthma or bronchitis would act up to the point of nearly killing me, I could still see a haze of smoke in my aunt's or uncle's living room like fog on the mountains.
As I grew older, I had a few friends who smoked. Luckily, my occassional cigarette never became a habit. Then there was that hot, french girl in my MBA program. Good thing I didn't hang out that much with her. She made it look sexy.
My guy smokes, but only outside. And he tries to shoo me away when he does it. Usually unsuccessfully. And he always brushes his teeth afterward. I have better control of the asthma now, so it isn't quite as risky to be around smokers as it used to be. There is a faint hint of smoke on him from time to time, but it's never that stale smell my relatives tend to have.
If I want to discourage myself from picking it up as a habit, I just think about an employee of mine who smoked a lot, and who had those tiny lines all over her face from it. I'm sure she would have had some of them anyway, but the smoking aggravated it, and made it look like something had sucked all the moisture out of her skin. Old age and death are inevitable, but there is no reason to hurry it along.
So, if disease and death don't scare your friends, try appealing to their vanity. :-)
During my more formative years, I didn't know anyone who made smoking sexy. The family members who smoked would do so to excess. Even when my asthma or bronchitis would act up to the point of nearly killing me, I could still see a haze of smoke in my aunt's or uncle's living room like fog on the mountains.
As I grew older, I had a few friends who smoked. Luckily, my occassional cigarette never became a habit. Then there was that hot, french girl in my MBA program. Good thing I didn't hang out that much with her. She made it look sexy.
My guy smokes, but only outside. And he tries to shoo me away when he does it. Usually unsuccessfully. And he always brushes his teeth afterward. I have better control of the asthma now, so it isn't quite as risky to be around smokers as it used to be. There is a faint hint of smoke on him from time to time, but it's never that stale smell my relatives tend to have.
If I want to discourage myself from picking it up as a habit, I just think about an employee of mine who smoked a lot, and who had those tiny lines all over her face from it. I'm sure she would have had some of them anyway, but the smoking aggravated it, and made it look like something had sucked all the moisture out of her skin. Old age and death are inevitable, but there is no reason to hurry it along.
So, if disease and death don't scare your friends, try appealing to their vanity. :-)
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