I've been a regular smoker for over a year now, consuming anywhere from 1-2 packs a day. After examining the way this behavior has affected me and my body, I've learned several things about smoking they don't teach you in high school. 

You are your responsibility

Smoking is not just a bad habit kids pick up from watching movies like "The Boondock Saints", or "Thank You for Smoking" The average school curriculum will have you believe that kids who smoke are subjected to peer pressure to the point of caving in; they are conveyed as victims. But life doesn't always happen like those health videos make it look like. 

The Truth:

Peer Pressure comes in many forms

Smoking isn't always about "looking cool." It's about experiencing the same mind-set as the people around you.

When you smoke, you're part of the group. You don't stand out. Smoking relaxes you, and makes you feel comfortable around new people. 

Let's say you're at a party, and everyone's smoking. They're laughing, and joking with one another- you try to involve yourself in the conversation, but can't seem to fit in. Smoking gives you something to do by yourself, to where you can sit with a group, not say anything, but still feel like part of the group.

Peer pressure doesn't have to look like an after-school special. It's a subconscious desire to experience the same frame of mind as the group. 

However, you cannot blame an abstract concept like peer pressure for the thousands of people that die from smoking every year. 

Yes, peer pressure is a genuine issue among adolescents, but the decision to smoke is an individual choice.

What's really "cool" about smoking

I started smoking the summer before my first year in college. I was curious about it, and decided to try it for myself.

I discovered very soon that I liked it. I liked it a lot.

Pursing my lips around the perfect cylindrical filter, feeling my gums yearn for the first hit- that cool sensation rolling over my tongue, down my throat all the way inside of me... making me feel dizzy and tingly all over for just a moment before I exhale the agent once more through my lips and into the atmosphere around me in little clouds of exhileration.... man that was good. Why wouldn't I do that ten or twenty times a day?

After sitting in a math lecture for three hours listening to my math professor drone about Statistics, a cigarette was exactly what I needed to relax.

Why I did it: I was a nervous college freshman, and I didn't have any friends. In lecture halls, there are three hundred people in one class. How on earth was I supposed to filter out someone long enough to make a friend?

The first friend I made was another freshman named John. How did we meet? I saw him outside the building, and I asked him for a cigarette. 

Because we were both smoking, we had something to talk about. We shared the same frame of mind, and therefore it was easy conversation. 

When you start smoking, you realize how easy it is to talk to people. Because of this, when you see a celebrity, or a favorite cartoon character smoking- you incredulously assume if you smoke, you have the capability to be like them- to experience their frame of mind. Who wouldn't want to be like Spike from "Cowboy Bebop"? Or Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in "Fight Club"?

Understanding that concept, wouldn't it be reasonable to say that smoking is a motivational tool that temporarily inhibits nervousness that otherwise would prevent people from accomplishing their goals?

The "Pros" of Smoking

During the harsh Michigan winters on campus, smoking kept me outdoors. And although it was at first unpleasant, I learned to brace the weather. For the rest of winter I rarely felt cold.

Throughout the summer days, I'd see some incredible things. I once sat in a public park, just having an after-work smoke, and watched the sunset while a flock of geese flew across the river.

One night, I couldn't sleep. I went out for a cigarette, and saw a shooting star against an elegant navy blue sky.

With my hectic school schedule, making time for myself was almost impossible, but every time I lit up a cigarette... it was finally me-time.

When I worked at a part time pizza-place, the only way I could get a break was to ask for a fifteen minute smoke break. It was the only time I had to rest during my shifts. 

After eating too much food, a cigarette was all I needed to settle my stomach when I didn't have any medicine handy. 

As I mentioned earlier, smoking is an excellent form of networking. People who smoke are often more relaxed and open because they are experiencing a pleasant "buzz" as they smoke. It allows for more free and friendly ice breakers. 

The Effects of Smoking in Culture

Smoking has also created an entire new lexicon in youth culture, including phrases like, "Can I bum a smoke?", and the infamous "Gotta light?".  

Without smoking, some of the old classic films might never have been. How else should Jerry Durrance and Charlotte Vale ended their final scene during "Now, Voyager"?

"Shall we have a cigarette on it?" could have been: "Shall we sit in awkward silence until the audience is so uncomfortable they turn us off?  

Smoking also helped found this country, Tobacco being one of the major crops the original 13 colonies produced. 

Despite it's reputation, smoking has immeasurably contributed to American culture, social structure, and foundation.

As I stated at the start: I've been a regular smoker for over a year.

I've learned a lot of interested things about cigarettes that they don't tell you in health class. I've made friends when I didn't think I could, and I've seen beautiful things that most people miss. Smoking gave me time to myself that I never had before with my busy lifestyle. I've had a reason to slow down, to stop and smell the roses.

But there's always consequences to everything. Although smoking has been a vice for my stresses this last year, I'm quitting. And there are several reasons why.

I'm not a doctor, but I maintain an otherwise healthy lifestyle. I'm not sure if all of these changes are from smoking, but I am sure that until I started smoking, I've never had any of the following issues.

1) My athletic ability has bottomed out. I used to be able to jog at a steady rate for twenty minutes, now I'm lucky to make it to two.

2) I'm highly susceptible to bronchial health problems. Last winter I suffered from pneumonia, bronchitis and a nasal sinus infection simultaneously. Before I started smoking, I had never gotten that sick. 

3) I have more acne problems than I used to. 

4) My teeth used to be porcelain white, now the part where my teeth meet my gums is stained yellow. 

5) My finger nails didn't turn completely yellow, but my toenails did. It looks like I have some kind of horrible fungus. 

6) My finger nails have become more brittle, and brake constantly. And my toe nails have become more dense, it's very hard to cut them.

7) I've gained weight. Approximately fifteen pounds. I have an extremely high metabolism, and have never had any weight issues. Now, my belly has a definite "pudginess" to it. 

8) Withdraw symptoms: If I don't smoke, I expirience the following symptoms:

-After a few hours, my gums hurt, and I start grinding my teeth.

-After half a day, I become irritable and distracted.

-After a day, I become cranky.

-The next day, I become compulsive. I have to find something to do, and I won't stop until I'm satisfied that I've completed the task at hand.

-After two days, I'm unmotivated and disconnected with the people around me. I feel lazy, tired, and slightly sad. I still expirience gum pain. 

-After three days, I'm still distracted and disconnected, but my other symptoms begin to fade.

-Even after a week, when my physical symptoms are gone, I still feel the "urge" to smoke whenever I find myself in a certain situation. I can only describe this urge as this shooting sensation throughout my jaw, similar to when a person dying of famine sees a waiter carrying a marinated steak passing them by. I actually salivate a little. 

- If I don't smoke, I have trouble remembering things. I "zone out" a lot. Sometimes, I'll go in the kitchen for something, and when I get there, I can't remember what I wanted or how I got there in the first place.

9) Some of my friends don't like to be around me when I smoke, and avoid me when I do so.

10) My boyfriend hates the way my breath smells after I smoke, and avoids kissing me.

11) My car reeks.

12) The smell of the smoke "sticks" to everything- my clothes, my hands, my mouth, my hair, and anything around me. Washing with scented soaps is the only way to get rid of the smell completely. 

13) Cigarettes are expensive, and have cost me an estimated $43.75 a week for the past year and a half.

14) Smoking is messy, and gets ash everywhere. 

15) I've burned a lot of holes in the carpet of my car after accidentally dropping a cigarette or two. I've also burned myself, and I once nearly set my friend's hair on fire when she hugged me while I was smoking. 

The list could go on more, but I believe the point has been made. 

The truth is, despite any pleasant physical effects, smoking is bad for you. 

It's bad for your health, your smoke-free relationships, and your wallet.

And the sad part is, people are going to continue to smoke. Despite studies connecting smoking to numerous health issues, people smoke. 

Teenagers are going to be curious about smoking. Kids, as young as 12 are going to try their first cigarette. Pictures of black lungs don't scare anyone anymore.

It's going to take a different approach to prevent future generations from becoming addicted to cigarettes. That approach has to incorporate some honesty.

School health classes need to inform students about all the effects of smoking. Even the good ones. If this is done, students won't have as many unanswered questions, and possibly won't feel the need to try smoking. 

If schools only teach the negative effects of smoking, the only thing left to ponder are what makes smoking so appealing. It is this pondering that leads to curiosity, experimentation, and ultimately addiction.