Everyone has their own special smoker's thoughts that seem to work really well. I dated a guy whose favorite was something along the lines of, "I'm going to die anyway, I may as well enjoy living." That one doesn't work well for me as I generally prefer to think about my own death as little as possible, so reminding myself that I'm going to die one day doesn't make me want to smoke.
However, the one smoker's thought that works really well on me is, "I can just be a social smoker! It looks like so much fun! Aren't my social smoker friends the coolest?"
Part of what makes this argument work so well with me is that rationally I know that dosage is very important with cigarettes. Really, having 5 cigs/week isn't going to make much of a difference, and is probably no worse than living in a polluted area. I had a tumor biology professor who made the point that smoking marijuana isn't usually associated with cancer because few pot smokers smoke 20 joints a day.
I hope writing that doesn't plant nasty smoker's thoughts in your brains! I'm just outlining my negative thought process. I'm also about to outline why my 'rational' smoker's thought is still stupid.
I think once you cross a certain point and are truly addicted, as most if not all people on this site have, you can never be a social smoker. Even if you pull it off for a while (and I have), slowly you'll taper up to being a full-fledged smoker again. That's not to say that if you have a slip, you're doomed...but rather, it's not wise to give in to being a social smoker. I've yet to meet one person who has transitioned from being a serious smoker to a social one.
Even if you haven't crossed that addiction line yet, being a social smoker is dumb. It's playing with fire. How many of us were "social smokers" once upon a time? And what benefits are you really getting from smoking on that level anyway? The minimum amount of enjoyment isn't worth the risk.
I need to repeat this to myself everytime that smoker inside my head tells me that, "You'll only smoke when you're drinking," or something equally silly.
