I was hoping, before I thought of posting this, that one of their New Year's resolutions would be to quit, but, with how many trips were recently made to the convenient store on a "beer and smokes run", I doubt that'll happen any time soon. Even though some of them have quit before, stress gets to people, and they have a tendency to revisit their old, bad habits for a sense of relief and familiarity. People forget that their actions have consequences on others, though, when they're caught up in what they want.
Here are some of the things I've learned about living with smokers:
1. They're wasting money. My sister and one of her boyfriends of college life past had decided to do a projection about how much money my parents spend on beer and cigarettes every year. This was during at time, however, before a few extra people picked up the bad habit. Think about it: a pack of cigarettes cost about $4.00 where I live. Now, consider that one of my family members usually buys a pack a day. There're 365 days in a year. Even if he skips buying cigarettes, say, half the year (let's round up to 183 days), it's still costing $728. With that number, keep in mind that he doesn't actually skip quite that many days. On top of that, we now have 3 people in the house with a similar habit. Even if they buy cigarettes only a fourth of the days in a year (let's go ahead and round to 91 days since it's close), that's 91 x 3 x 4 which is $1092. You know, spending money like that wouldn't even bother me (I've kind of always factored that kind of money out of our budget, anyway), except my family is always complaining about not having enough money. I mean, does it sound so crazy to say, hey, you know, if you quit smoking, we'd add at least $1000 more every year to our budget? I wonder if throwing around that amount of money would inspire some action on their parts...
2. They have to have the windows open in the car. On nice days, this is actually kind of lovely. During spring or early fall when the air is between 60 and 70 degrees, the light breeze coming from the open car windows is refreshing. But, when it's maybe 30 degrees outside and you're bundled up in the backseat, 3 car windows cracked, the frosty, dry outside air is not welcome. I understand that they have to vent the smoke and everything, but it's awful because what actually happens is that the smoke doesn't all make it out and ends up blowing into your face. Speaking of things blowing in your face...
3. There are ashes (and ash trays) everywhere. When that air blows in your face from the person in front of you in the car smoking his cigarette, it brings smoke and ash with it. Sometimes, my entire lap will be coated in ash, and sometimes, some of the ashes are still hot. Our house has ashes everywhere. There are ashes on every counter space and table top, embedded in the carpets, and lightly dusting every surface of every object that's laid on any open surface for any extended period of time. For example, I sometimes have to blow and/or wipe the ashes off the screen of my phone in order to use it at points during the day if I set it uncovered on a table. Also, there's an ash tray on almost every open surface in our house. But the thing is, they don't always use them. Sure, the trays are full of ashes and butts, but the bathroom sinks will never be fully clean again after having been used multiple times as an ash tray. I've tried to scrub the black flecks of ash dust out of the porcelain basin many times, but to no avail.
4. Everything in the house has been affected by the habit. Clearly, there can be ash everywhere, but that's not the only thing. There are burn marks in things. The carpet in places, one of the throw blankets, the recliner. Places where cigarettes have fallen on the floor, places where my dad's fallen asleep with a cigarette in his mouth. Our clothes smell like it. I can't smell it at home, but when I come back to college and I'm around people who don't smoke and there's not constantly the smell of smoke in the house, the scent of it is all over everything I brought home. My clothes that I cleaned, my suitcase, my purse, etc. My clean clothes don't smell clean, and I constantly am self-conscious. I remember I was sitting in class one day in middle school and some guy that would joke with me passed by and sniffed my hair. I remember him backing up and saying, "Your hair smells like smoke". I tried to wave it off, saying something about how I didn't like my new conditioner, but the comment stuck with me. I've had multiple people tell me that my clothes smelled like smoke. I'm sorry, I can't help it? The walls and ceiling are tinged slightly with brown smoke.
5. I worry about their life spans. Let me explain this one a little bit. Every time I hear one of my family members cough, it's not just a simple cough or two, and done. No, it's always a coughing fit that sounds like his lungs are full of gunk. A couple members both laugh a wheezing, smoker's sort of laugh. I'm worried that someone is going to end up with lung cancer. I want my family around to see my children graduate from high school, but I'm so worried that, if the habit stays, they won't. The thing is, they know it's unhealthy, but that doesn't seem to be enough motivation to quit.
6. I have first-hand experience with withdrawal. I've watched how irritable they get if they don't smoke after a certain amount of time. In fact, I deal with it all the time. If someone forgets to pick up a pack of cigarettes, we have to go out again a few hours later specifically to get the sticks. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing, either. See, I know how hard it is for them to quit. I want to go into the medical field, and, if I do so, I'm going to be dealing with people trying to quit drug use, so it's good to be able to see how they react and what I need to do to help. Like I said, people have quit before, and I was there while they were going through it.
7. I now have a disdain for the habit. Thanks to experiencing the habit so closely every single day, I know I'll never do it. In fact, people have offered for me to try, and I blatantly refuse. It's not that I'm trying to be a prude, it's just that I know what it can do to a person from experience, and I want to avoid that fate at all costs. I was even afraid to try smoking nicotine-free, non-addictive hookah because the act of smoking was always the same to me. The good news is, I'll never get addicted to cigarettes.
I understand why people do it, it's a stress-relief. But I just wish that people wouldn't. I mean, there are other options. I won't pester them about quitting, because I do believe it is supposed to be up to them. I love my family dearly and I will always love them, smokers or not, but I sometimes wish they would just kick the bad habit. I think we'd be happier without it.
5. I worry about their life spans. Let me explain this one a little bit. Every time I hear one of my family members cough, it's not just a simple cough or two, and done. No, it's always a coughing fit that sounds like his lungs are full of gunk. A couple members both laugh a wheezing, smoker's sort of laugh. I'm worried that someone is going to end up with lung cancer. I want my family around to see my children graduate from high school, but I'm so worried that, if the habit stays, they won't. The thing is, they know it's unhealthy, but that doesn't seem to be enough motivation to quit.
6. I have first-hand experience with withdrawal. I've watched how irritable they get if they don't smoke after a certain amount of time. In fact, I deal with it all the time. If someone forgets to pick up a pack of cigarettes, we have to go out again a few hours later specifically to get the sticks. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing, either. See, I know how hard it is for them to quit. I want to go into the medical field, and, if I do so, I'm going to be dealing with people trying to quit drug use, so it's good to be able to see how they react and what I need to do to help. Like I said, people have quit before, and I was there while they were going through it.
7. I now have a disdain for the habit. Thanks to experiencing the habit so closely every single day, I know I'll never do it. In fact, people have offered for me to try, and I blatantly refuse. It's not that I'm trying to be a prude, it's just that I know what it can do to a person from experience, and I want to avoid that fate at all costs. I was even afraid to try smoking nicotine-free, non-addictive hookah because the act of smoking was always the same to me. The good news is, I'll never get addicted to cigarettes.
I understand why people do it, it's a stress-relief. But I just wish that people wouldn't. I mean, there are other options. I won't pester them about quitting, because I do believe it is supposed to be up to them. I love my family dearly and I will always love them, smokers or not, but I sometimes wish they would just kick the bad habit. I think we'd be happier without it.
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