New to the group but not happy

[facebook4]

joined this group today but I have mixed feelings. No correct that, I'm not happy about the situation. I'm more or less being forced into quitting by a number of factors. With this new Health Reform bill likely to pass, I'm going to be forced into buying Health Insurance and I'm being told that smokers can expect to be required to pay anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 times the going rate! Plus, I've been unemployed now for over a year. In order to keep my unemployment in effect, I had to enroll in college. The college has now institured a no smoking policy anywhere on campus , including outside!! I am required to be there a goodly portion of the day, and am not permitted to smoke. I've been smoking over 45 years, I have no health issues to speak of and I feel fine, but it looks as though I'm going to be forced to send my best friend of 45 years packing. Somehow it doesn't seem fair.

[Rick_M]

I see your point Facebook. It is not fair, I'll agree with that, but this no smoking allowed ball just keeps rolling along. I quit last year to avoid future health issues, plus I saw the writing on the wall with all the new rules and regulations about smoking, not to mention the cost. 

I did not want to quit but I really am glad I did. I smoked aleast a pack a day for 37 years over 27,000 smokes. Now almost a year quit. I can breathe again and everytime there is a smoking issue, it does not effect me.

Thank God. I just got tired of being discriminated against. If ya can't beat 'em join 'em. It is not easy to quit but many do it everday.

I wish you well. If you decide to quit this site can provide allot of support. Talk to your doc and read all the advice on here, it really does help. Many on here at different stages of their quits. It is alittle bit of misery loves company but the support is great. 

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[MoeUnfiltered]

I wish you well Facebook.I am a 3.5 pack a day ex-smoker.I do have health consequences and  lost people to cancer,one is very sick right now.There were lots of reasons why I was thinking of quitting,good ones too But finances were the last straw,it was on my brain and I got mad about it,had 3/4 of a pack left and stopped at 830pm on a Friday night.I could not stand the idea that this habit was going to dictate what apartment I could have,Where all my funds would go and Potentially where I could work in the future having such a hungry habit as laws change and the police tape keeps going up around the smoker.I practiced before my quit with nicotine gum going for hours without a smoke.Life is not Fair,Facebook.Of all the things in this Life i have given up or had taken away,Nicotine is Tough but Not the Toughest.Again I wish you well Facebook.    Moe

[Giulia]

In my book if you're a smoker you SHOULD pay more for health insurance because you're costing the insurance companies (and thusly me and everyone else) more money.  As I did when I smoked.  And if somebody had said what I just said to me, I would have been really pissed.  But if you look at the actuarial tables, smokers get a lot more diseases than non smokers and die earlier.  We may not like those stats and their consequences, but if we were willing (which I wasn't) to really look at them, it might just give us pause.  I didn't want to stop either.  But I'm glad I did.  Really glad I did.  And I had no health issues either after 35 years of smoking a pack and a half a day).

No need for you to be happy about it.  But there IS a need for you to quit.  For all the reasons you mentioned.  Plus a few you haven't.  First off, you gotta get the "best friend" thinking out of your head.  Do enough reading on here and you'll learn how and why.

Lots of people on here to help....when you're ready.

And as my stepfather said to me "whoever said life was 'fair?'"  Which set me to crying a lot - but happened to be the truth.

[melanie26]

 HEY THERE - HAPPY OR SAD, QUITTING IS A GOOD CHOICE. I AM ON DAY 19. AND JUST SOME INSIGHT FROM A HEALTH INSURANCE AGENT.......SMOKERS ALREADY PAY 40% HIGHER RATES IN TEXAS.....AND IF YOU ARE FORCED TO BUY HEALTH INSURANCE, WHICH I HIGHLY DOUBT, BE GLAD YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ADVERSE MEDICAL CONDITION LIKE LUNG CANCER OR EVEN ASTHMA. AND MY DADDY USED TO TELL ME TOO....." FAIRS ARE IN OCTOBER, THIS IS MARCH. "     THIS SITE WILL BE HELPFUL IN BEATING IT IF YOU ARE READY. IF YOU ARE NOT - THERE ARE COUNTLESS RESOURCES....  I HAVE BLOGGED ABOUT A REALLY GOOD BOOK THAT HELPED ME AND OTHERS, CALLED"HOW TO STOP SMOKING THE EASY WAY" BY ALLEN CARR. IF YOU WANT TO BE  NON SMOKER, BUT DO NOT WANT TO "SUFFER" - READ IT!!!!!   BEST OF LUCK ON YOUR JOURNEY - IT CAN BE DONE!  

[va72lady]

Your best friend makes you smell bad, causes cancer, cost you lots of extra money and denies you entrance to lots of places.   You do have to quit for yourself not because someone else wants you to quit...   The cigarette is not your friend it just makes you think it is...  Life is so much better without the cigarette and you smell so much better...  Find a new friend , mine is m&m's lol...Shirley