Re: quitting

baltimorehorses said: good for you! must not have been easy considering where you are. keep it up~

Thanks for the support!

A few thoughts.

  1. I think being able to smoke almost anywhere in Japan (seems like they’re just introducing the idea of “smoking/non” sections in restaurants here) coupled with their cheapness (Under $5 a pack!) and availability (Vending machines EVERYHWERE!) and not getting carded for smokes ever - - strangely helped me get over it rather than further embed the habit after 15+ years. Being in all those smoky rooms and bars again…ugh.
  2. Compare this to Vancouver where they were expensive ($10+ a pack) commodities that were demonized as a public health menace with bylaws and ridiculous fines to match (NO SMOKING ANYWHERE! INDOORS! OUTDOORS! NOWHERE! EVER!!). That made them valuable.  Plus the sanctimonious uptight-about-being-laidback lifestyle-as-identity health freaks there made me want to smoke on principle —-  walk down 4th ave in Kitsilano with a lit cigarette and people would look at you like you were walking with a lit crackpipe while waving a Nazi flag and eating a baby.
  3. Availability removes mystique. Same with booze: being able to buy beer and wine at the corner store made it less of a big deal, removed the urgency to get fucked up. Being around weed all the time in Vancouver turned it from being this, big, you know—thing—-into a take-it-or-leave-it-no-big-deal kinda deal.  Somewhere along the line, the veil of cool/badass/whatever has to be lifted.
  4. The biggest factor: my otosan/father-in-law’s triple bypass. He had to quit, so okaasan/mother-in-law had to quit so I jumped in and we made it a team effort.
  5. Seeing him recovering in ICU is what really nailed it.  This is what a lifetime of chainsmoking and not eating your vegetables gets you.
  6. We all miss it and still have cravings but we have an agreement: if one of us cracks and starts again, that means we all get to smoke. But here’s the rub: since one member of the team is under doctor’s strict orders….
  7.  That, my friends, is quite the lesson in responsibility, as an individual and a group. 
Jul. 30 2012
3 notes

Notes

  1. baltimorehorses said: availability being a huge thing. i’ve never smoked a day in my life and hell, even i smoked in japan. as i said before, good for you! keep it up~
  2. standardgrey posted this