A decision that was probably a little late in coming

So last week I decided that I'm not going to smoke anymore. I'm not saying I'm "quitting", because I'd have to admit to myself that I was "a smoker" in the first place. Which, while debatable, I stand by I was not.

I have maintained for years, that despite the odd social puff, I wasn't addicted, and thus I didn't classify myself as a smoker. I always thought that the idea of smoking in the winter proved that cigarettes were the most hardcore vice available. Nothing could make me voluntarily go outside on a cold winter's day. Nothing.

Anyway, I have long said that I don't consider myself addicted, and mostly would have a smoke using a similar thought process to having a turkey sandwich. I just kinda felt like one. I've been known to go weeks without having a cigarette, if only because I never hung out with any of my friends that I could share one with. I even took the best part of a couple of months off in the fall, if only to prove to myself that my assertion that "I can quite whenver I feel like it.. I just need a reason to" was actually valid. Most "smokers" can tell you almost to the hour their last cigarette. I can only ballpark that as 6 or 8 weeks, because I didn't really take note when I stopped.

All that said, I finally had the thought cross my mind last week... "What the hell am I doing? Even the odd casual smoke has to have some kind of detremental affect on my health, right? This is totally different from having the odd tub of ice cream, or bag of Doritos. This is insane."

So I've given them up, and that's that.