The first time I remember smoking was in Year 10 with a mate. I didn't think it was particularly cool but I remember feeling rebellious and that I had a secret (as I wasn't the sort to tell everyone about it). Very few of my friends smoked at that point, and many disapproved of smoking; surprisingly, most of my mates never ended up smoking regularly, even socially.
As house parties became more common and we got older, more people smoked and specifically two of my friends and I would smoke regularly when not at home or school. These were the days of constantly carrying around chewing gum, perfume, and hand sanitiser and hiding cigarettes and lighters.
When I started university, I smoked pretty much anytime I was outdoors or walking somewhere, including between lectures. Again, few of my uni mates smoked, but I enjoyed it and it wasn't really questioned. Although I don't necessarily encourage smoking, I do think that it can be very sociable, especially during first year, as I made many new friends in the smoking area on nights out, or in the courtyard at halls. Even if I wasn't meeting new people, I'd use my 'blem breaks' to call home mates and catch up with them. I smoked constantly throughout first year and most of second year, however during family holidays I'd never smoke and I never struggled to stop, even for weeks at a time. I never felt addicted and I always knew I'd stop eventually, I just enjoyed the social aspect of smoking.
I don't remember there being a specific turning point when I decided I wanted to completely stop smoking, but in second year I decided to see whether I'd be able to not smoke throughout the Easter holidays (3 weeks). I was pretty sure I'd manage fairly easily, and what I found was that the thing that took the most getting used to was how else to occupy my hands. This is never mentioned, but for me smoking whilst walking became so habitual that I felt unnatural just walking without my hands being busy. I realised I'd also smoke on nights out to prolong the effects of the alcohol instead of buying more drinks.
After a breezy three weeks, I returned to uni and just decided not to buy any more cigarettes or tobacco. As mentioned previously, I always knew I'd stop eventually and the more I thought about it, the more I realised that there wasn't much point in smoking. I felt bad dragging friends outside in Winter to smoke and I thought of how much money I could be saving for travel instead of on tobacco. Also, by that point I wasn't going out as much and meeting loads of new people so it wasn't even as sociable. Additionally, the smell was starting to make me feel slightly nauseous (whereas when I was younger I liked it), and I didn't want my teeth to become yellow. So I just stopped, and that was that.
I thought that quitting would be a lot harder, simply because that's what everyone says, and everyone assumes that if you smoke regularly for years you must be addicted. To be honest I thought the same, but I didn't understand how I wouldn't have become addicted after smoking so much. However, recently I read Malcolm Gladwell's book 'The Tipping Point', which explores the idea of 'chippers': smokers who smoke regularly but don't become addicted. In theory, this is because they never smoke enough to become addicted or smoke 'very lightly', however this wasn't the case with myself or a few other friends, all of whom smoked a lot but managed to quit from one day to the next. Obviously, this isn't the case for most people and quitting can be very difficult, so there are some resources below:
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