Well, being in the field, I would venture to say that those people who smoke all show similar tendencies. Those of stuffing their feelings, low self esteem, depression, and the addictive personality in and of itself. There have been many studies that show correlations between depression and smoking, divorce and depression, and now smoking and divorce. People who are addicted to other substances also fare poorly in the divorce ratings, and it is not surprising to find that alcoholics and methamphetamine addicts have the highest divorce rates of all. But addiction is usually a living problem. The substance such as alcohol or nicotine convinces the addict that their problems goes away if they drink or smoke or do what their drug of choice is. When the underlying problem is really that the person feels uncomfortable in their own skin, or panic in certain situations, or just can't seem to talk to people. So they indulge in the drug of their choice, in our case nicotine, and thereby focus on the "fix" instead of the uncomfortable feelings and emotions.
How many times have we stuffed our desire to make a fast reply and gone and smoked instead? What will we say now? How many times have we felt uncomfortable and gone and smoked instead? What will we feel now? This is what I am learning now. It's quite strange to learn this stuff at 52 years old, but yaahoo, what a ride!
Thanks for such a thought provoking thread Kiwi!
Denise
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 10/16/2006
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 64
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,925
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $480
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 7 [B]Hrs:[/B] 11 [B]Mins:[/B] 47 [B]Seconds:[/B] 39