Ex-smokers (or anyone, for that matter) please help! Forum

[OneStressedPuppy]

Okay, people, I need your help. I know that a lot of people think that studying for the LSAT is going to kill them, but I have a slightly different take on that problem. See, way back when I was in high school, I was a smoker. (I know, but when I was 14 I really did think it was cool.) Quit when I got to college - no problem really, new place, new people, I was stressed but by college I realized that to most of the world, only the bad, stupid people smoke. I did not want to be thought of as one of those people. I even got over smoking so much that the smell of stale cigarette smoke makes me a little nauseous.

But now I am noticing smokers everywhere and I really want to light up. I have not felt this way in years and I do not want to be one of those people that most educated, intelligent people look down upon, huddled in a doorframe in the snow, bent over my drug of choice. AND I cannot imagine trying to take the LSAT for real while craving a smoke. I am just starting to make progress but it will all be for nothing if I cannot concentrate on the actual test day.

So please help me resist!!! If you have specific strategies, that would be excellent, otherwise you could just post pictures of cancer-ridden lungs, or those stories about how no one is hiring smokers -- I just need a boost of willpower here . . . I really, really do not want to be one of those people

[iamgeorgebush]

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[OneStressedPuppy]

Thanks George

This really does help hammer into my brain that only an absolutely idiotic person would start smoking after they had already quit. And I would defy any LSAT LR-question-writer to say that my conclusion is flawed.

Anyone else?

[dowu]

Don't be an idiot.

[hephaestus]

Learn to cope with stress because the LSAT is only the beginning. Law school/practicing is one stress test after another. Don't use Cigarettes as your crutch.

[OneStressedPuppy]

dowu - I know!! It's 20 degrees here or I might already have caved. In the summer, you can hang outside and hope no one notices - in November, the only reason to be standing outside in the freezing cold is because you are a f******-idiot addict.

INS - I know! It only gets worse. (Cite that book One L.) I do wish I had better coping skills. Nothing in college was as challenging as this LSAT stuff, so I sort of coasted. Maybe paying for that now.

[Yazzzay]

Here, 97 reasons:
http://www.health.com/health/condition- ... 03,00.html

[mojangles]

As a smoker who has quit at least 800 times in the past (sometimes for as long as a year), don't light up again. One time, you will light up, and it will be ridiculously hard to quit for good. Even when you think you've made it, sometime will get you to spark that one, and once you do you're right back in the game.

Also, as a smoker, the "smoking helps with stress" is the biggest flame ever. Its an excuse smokers use to justify smoking. I have never felt more calm or relaxed or chill after a cigarette. Mostly I feel gross and like I need a piece of gum.

All you get out of smoking is a lighter wallet, feeling like your lungs are on fire when you wake up in the morning, getting winded if you go up the stairs too often, and the joy of walking around smelling like smoke. Oh, and cancer. Don't forget the cancer.

[JustHawkin]

IIRC, John Daly, the golfer, was told to pickup smoking to loose weight, so he did. When he was tired of smoking, he ate a pack of peanut M & M's every time he had a craving.
Solution: Buy peanut M & M's

In all seriousness, I know staying the course is tough. But the post above is right on the money! Gotta be strong every day!

[xylocarp]

I once watched some documentary in which some company just straight up fired all of their employees who smoked. Not even at the workplace, just at all.

Some random links

Smokers Need Not Apply Here
More employers demand applicants quit smoking
Michigan company fires workers for smoking at home
Trend: You smoke? You're fired!
Smoker who lost job loses in court

The legal market is already shit; why decrease your chances even more? Also, some people won't date smokers because they hate the taste (or for other reasons I guess) — what if you meet your dream (wo)man and (s)he turns you down when if you hadn't smoked, you would have gotten married and been ridiculously happy and had awesome sex for the rest of your life? Also, quitting sucks and is super hard. Don't put yourself in a position where you have to do it again.

[Fifth_Business]

If you're craving the smoke, consider getting a vapour/e-cigarette. You can get them with or without nicotine (glycerine?). This is probably your best option. It's better to give in a little bit, than stress about it before the LSAT.

In the off chance you're craving nicotine, get some nicotine gum. Thrive tastes much better than Nicorette. With either product, follow the instructions carefully. If you chew it like normal gum you will become seriously addicted. Regular gum just doesn't have that bite!

Good luck!

[AliceAgain]

If you're craving the smoke, consider getting a vapour/e-cigarette. You can get them with or without nicotine (glycerine?). This is probably your best option. It's better to give in a little bit, than stress about it before the LSAT.

In the off chance you're craving nicotine, get some nicotine gum. Thrive tastes much better than Nicorette. With either product, follow the instructions carefully. If you chew it like normal gum you will become seriously addicted. Regular gum just doesn't have that bite!

Good luck!

I will have more to say about this topic, but for now, the important comment I have is, this is seriously horrendous advice. Give in a little bit? No such thing, in my experience. Any illusion that you, and not the drug, are in control is just that - an illusion.

You CANNOT deal with stress by using drugs - it just makes you a stressed-out drug addict. Then you have two problems - the original stress plus your drug addiction. Much better to just deal with the stress directly. Exercise, meditate, write in a journal, see a therapist, plant a garden - anything but take a drug to reduce your stress.

[Wrong Marx]

If you think taking the LSAT will be difficult with a craving for cigarettes, just try to imagine how difficult the rest of your life will be if you have to breathe through a hole in your neck.

http://youtu.be/PzwnO6o-V6w

[mephistopheles]

Also, as a smoker, the "smoking helps with stress" is the biggest flame ever. Its an excuse smokers use to justify smoking. I have never felt more calm or relaxed or chill after a cigarette.

maybe that's your experience, but it's definitely not a flame.

[AliceAgain]

And this:

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tip ... e-full.pdf

She died last year.

[AliceAgain]

The legal market is already shit; why decrease your chances even more? Also, some people won't date smokers because they hate the taste (or for other reasons I guess) — what if you meet your dream (wo)man and (s)he turns you down when if you hadn't smoked, you would have gotten married and been ridiculously happy and had awesome sex for the rest of your life? Also, quitting sucks and is super hard. Don't put yourself in a position where you have to do it again.

There is a lot of value in this statement. Of course, a lot of professions are facing job market troubles, but to be a lawyer who smokes is asking to be treated as an outcast. For one thing, lawyers are very status-conscious. And smoking is widely known to be correlated with a low SES. So law firms especially are likely to look at job applicants who smoke as undesirable - they might have the right educational pedigree, but smoking says they are "low class."

From the CDC:
"Tobacco use is strongly associated with low socio-economic status (SES)."
"The prevalence of current smoking is greatest among adults with working-class jobs, low educational level, and low income."

More at
http://www.healthwellnc.com/TUPCHERITAG ... 0Sheet.pdf

[mephistopheles]

yeah, but smoking is definitely cool if you're doing it right regardless of ses.

[mephistopheles]

and girls who smoke are the hottest

[AliceAgain]

and girls who smoke are the hottest

Don't think so. According to this fantastic website - http://tobaccobody.fi/n_en.php - "out of the 100 most popular profile pictures in a dating service only two were pictures of smokers." The website compares the body of a smoker with the body of a non-smokers, and discusses effects beyond the commonly-known ones.

[sublime]

..

[sublime]

..

[Ave]

yeah, but smoking is definitely cool if you're doing it right regardless of ses.

yeah and this is weird but I find that hint of cigarette smoke smell clinging onto a person's clothes a slight turn on (on a right person).

OP: just don't think about it - the more you think about it, the more you will crave it.

[xylocarp]

The legal market is already shit; why decrease your chances even more? Also, some people won't date smokers because they hate the taste (or for other reasons I guess) — what if you meet your dream (wo)man and (s)he turns you down when if you hadn't smoked, you would have gotten married and been ridiculously happy and had awesome sex for the rest of your life? Also, quitting sucks and is super hard. Don't put yourself in a position where you have to do it again.

As a counterpoint - I have met several women/friends out smoking. The ostracized have to stick together, right?

thread is OP asking for help with not smoking tho

[AliceAgain]

The legal market is already shit; why decrease your chances even more? Also, some people won't date smokers because they hate the taste (or for other reasons I guess) — what if you meet your dream (wo)man and (s)he turns you down when if you hadn't smoked, you would have gotten married and been ridiculously happy and had awesome sex for the rest of your life? Also, quitting sucks and is super hard. Don't put yourself in a position where you have to do it again.

As a counterpoint - I have met several women/friends out smoking. The ostracized have to stick together, right?

thread is OP asking for help with not smoking tho

And how much help were (or would be) those women/friends in helping you find a job? Guessing they aren't the partners . . .

[xylocarp]

The legal market is already shit; why decrease your chances even more? Also, some people won't date smokers because they hate the taste (or for other reasons I guess) — what if you meet your dream (wo)man and (s)he turns you down when if you hadn't smoked, you would have gotten married and been ridiculously happy and had awesome sex for the rest of your life? Also, quitting sucks and is super hard. Don't put yourself in a position where you have to do it again.

As a counterpoint - I have met several women/friends out smoking. The ostracized have to stick together, right?

thread is OP asking for help with not smoking tho

And how much help were (or would be) those women/friends in helping you find a job? Guessing they aren't the partners . . .

The relationship/dating point was meant to be separate from the employment point.
ETA: just realized you were on my side haha