Smoking usually starts based on social friends, so if you have a friend who smokes its hard to even quit at all.
But that shows how much self-control you either have, stay grounded and say no I quit.
Also being in a environment that people smokes like at a club doesnt help at all too.
Choice is very clear then.
Be a smoker with lots of friend but live short, or be a non-smoker with few friend that live long and lonely life.
To draw a parallel, somehow I had acquired a few friends who really did not have any ambitions and goals in life whatsoever. What they wanted to do was only to hang around, drink beer, talk shit, and do nothing, no self discipline or visions for society or their own life - not very bright either. Their entire existence was focused around reading the news, watching a soccer match, and bothering me.
They were all nice and good people, nothing bad in them, but they did not contribute towards where I wanted to go, and sorry, I can't be a social worker in this life.
Now, it's not bad to talk shit sometime and to waste some time now and then, but to constantly do this, and to have no purpose and direction in life - well, that's not where I want to go. So call me a jerk, but I decided that if I want to achieve my goals, I need to either stay alone or to surround myself with people that share my passion.
So that's what I did, so I stopped being in touch with those people. Some of them were really really pushy in regards to getting in touch again, begging, threatening and all sorts of childish behavior to get my attention. This might be cruel and cold, but frankly spending time with these people contributed nothing to me and my life. I want to talk about finance, cryptocurrencies, politics, technology etc, heck, I could not give a rats ass about who played soccer games the previous weekend or that a friend just had a payday and can now afford a crate of beers, or that he read whatever in the news that is so superimportant about some celeb and want to share it with me. And not to mention to listen to stupid shit all the time.
Like one time we went shopping, and there was a certain energy drink that came in different sized bottles, and one of my friends took a bunch of the smallest bottles as they were 25% off and was so happy, because he thought he was making a good deal. He also looked at the full sized bottles, but these were at ordinary prize, so he chose not to take any of those. But I watched how much they contained, and made a few simple calculations in my head, and concluded that even if the smaller bottles were on sale, the cost pr. litre was cheaper with the bigger bottles. I told my friend this, and then he immediately changed his mind. But since he'd already made his 'smart' choice by selecting the smaller bottles, he would not quite give up yet, so he went over to the clerk and asked, can I get a rebate on these, while holding up the small bottles in front of the clerk's face? The Clerk was confused and said: "Err.. no, they're already on sale, we're not giving you a rebate on items for sale". And to make matters worse, because I felt a bit sorry for this person previously I let him stay in a property we owned at 90% of what we paid in monthly installments to pay down the loan. This was meant to be a temporary thing. But he liked it there, so he stuck around. When we told him it was a temporary thing, and that if he wanted to stay there for a longer period, then we needed to receive at least equal to our monthly down payments, he refused and proclaimed that we were sharks that were exploiting him, and we told him to check the ads and compare prices to see he's actually extremely fortunate to be able to live in that area on a discounted price.
So we lost money, for helping a friend. That was what broke the straw and after he got out of that apartment, I never spoke to him again. And I do not regret it. He also always complained about having so little money, yet he smoked and drank a shitload of beer - wonder what that habbit cost... In addition he didn't clean the apartment, so it was quite the stinking shithole when we regained it.
Honestly, he was that fucking stupid that he thought we were exploiting him and made him pay too much, and when I didn't get in touch with him after all that, he even had the nerve to send me text messages like: "Come on bro, don't let money come between us.." Go figure. Lost a lot of money on that ordeal, and lost a 'friend', but that's not really a big loss.
The point is that if you want to go somewhere and achieve anything, you need to be hard as nails, or you can just succumb around in your comfort zone and never challenge yourself, and surround yourself with likeminded people.
Not that it's anything wrong with that, all people have their way of living life, but where do you think Bill Gates or Richard Branson would've been if they only drank beer, and watched celeb news? Surely they wouldn't be where they are today.. Not that everyone can achieve something like that, but why opt for mediocrity, when you can have 'the world'?
To go somewhere you need to go along with people that are your equals, or better than your self.
So to OP, if you decide something, then you avoid people and places that distract from your goal.
Not that I think OP will change his ways one bit, he's probably still upset about the fact that he can't just be left alone and smoke as much as he want without anyone else complaining.
But why smoke, what kind of positivity does it bring to your life? It does not prolong your life, it does not contribute to good health, and it brings unwanted negative attention from other people, what can possibly be good about it? Instead of hurling off to the pub after working hours, wasting the life away with alcohol and smokes, why not get a mountain bike and get some exercise and fresh air? I know I'm jumping to conclusions here now, but I do think that anyone who makes a decision to change their life for the better and stick to it, won't ever regret it.
