The Deadly Lifestyle

By Nathan Linny

It feels hot, when you draw smoke into your lungs. Your lungs feel compressed but lively as the smoke succumbs into your lungs. The nicotine rush reaches your head and you feel light-headed in conjunction with a pleasant hazy sensation [23]. It feels like you’re floating as your body liquefies to the wonderful sensation. Some people live for these short exhilarating sensations created from smoking a cigarette.

Initially, I started smoking for the social benefits. It was an easy approach to meeting new people and making new friends. However, a few years down the track, the purpose of a cigarette has amassed into an unhealthy addiction that has succumbed my health and my life. It’s hard trying to take your mind off a cigarette when you are feeling stressed, and thinking about it makes it more difficult, you feel uneasy and uncomfortable. The fuzzy sensations you once enjoyed, combusts into an itchy addiction. Your body trembles to the thought of not having a cigarette, a strange feeling of emptiness. Psychologically, you feel defeated and the only solution to the problem is smoking a cigarette.

Physically, I can feel my body deteriorating. My ability to play on the field for a 90-minute football game has reduced to 5-minutes. I struggle to breath when I run because my lungs feel heavily compressed, starving for oxygen. I feel like I’m living in a 60-year-old man’s body. The texture of my skin shares the same complexities as my grandparents.

Have I tried to quit smoking? The answer is yes, however it’s not that simple. A perfect analogue of the addictive properties of a cigarette, nicotine, is described by a user in an online forum. “Nicotine operates like snakes in your brain. They writhe, rattle and bite when you don’t have enough nicotine. When you do they go to sleep. Remove the nicotine away from your diet for a long enough period of time and after enduring an initial frenzy, the snakes will fall into a coma. But just a little smell or taste of nicotine will wake them up again and they definitely will be hungry when they wake up [24].”

[23] Cortex,. (2016). Detailed descriptions of the act of smoking. Ask.metafilter.com. Retrieved 7 September 2016, from http://ask.metafilter.com/62605/Detailed-descriptions-of-the-act-of-smoking

[24] TriPolar,. (2016). Smokers: What are tobacco cravings like? - Straight Dope Message Board.Boards.straightdope.com. Retrieved 7 September 2016, from http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=642165