Something just come into my mind while reading some older posts. I don't know if this will make sense to anyone, but it does to me. 
We don't remember anything before we were born. We don't even remember being born. We can only remember back so far. There are some people who wished they'd never been born after being in this insane world.
It reminded me of smoking.
I can't seem to remember how we dealt with day by day crazy stuff BEFORE we smoked; I can't remember how we didn't crave a cigarette BEFORE we started smoking. But now, especially as a more recent non-smoker, I know exactly how much I crave a cig. And now I wish I never started.
You see what I'm saying? This may be a bad comparison, I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense.
This is short, tiny comparison of before and after smoking, considering the person still smokes:
Before, we could run.
Now, we wheeze and are out of breath just by walking.
Before, we never worried about "that next break" to have a cig.
Now, that's all we think about.
Before, we looked younger.
Now, we look our age (or older).
Before, we could breathe.
Now, can't catch our breath (or if you're like my mom, can't catch your breath even when you're speaking).
There's so many more, and this is a scary list.
Nicotine really changes the brain, and how it works, and the body, and how it feels.
If I would only have known it would be like this, and what nicotine done to me; if I knew it back before I started, I'd have never taken a puff off that cig my friend gave me long ago.
Hope I'm allowed to post a link:
