While i dont doubt it, i had an observation about this fact a long time ago.
I was on a blind date years ago, and was a pack a day smoker. We eat dinner, have dessert and coffee, and stepping outside, i light up a smoke.
“You know those things are bad for you, right?”
“I know, its a terrible habit”
" do you ever wish you had never picked up the first one? It will kill you eventually…"
I took a drag. Held it, and exhaled.
“No. No i dont think i regret it at all”
She tilted her head like a puppy does when you whistle a high pitch with no prompt. It was confusion. She didnt understand. I stomped out my cigarette. We started walking.
“If i think about it, the chance encounters ive had on a balcony, or outside a random doorway with a stranger. conversation with no precontext or preconceptions. Just two people enjoying a thing that will eventually kill them. Theres something beautiful about that”
She still didnt get it.
"Those moments, and the friendships that resulted. They have already saved my life. Times over probably. So a few hours, or days at the end, in comparison to the things that i built off of those little moments, in the moment, where its just people and their habit…
I dont think i would change it"
The date went nowhere. There wasnt really a spark to begin with. It wasnt a big deal. Never saw her again.
But the friend that set her up with me, the one who i met by chance smoking in a backyard at a party. Shes still my friend. We talk once a week, if not more.
Her and her wife are expecting their first child this spring. I was at her dads funeral this fall. Lung cancer. He will never meet his grandson.
Neither of us smoke now. But, despite it all. I do not regret starting with that first smoke. Without that friendship, i would never have made it this far.
But in acknowledging that fact, there is a cost.
Theres always a a cost. But i value the time i traded, and i personally, have no regrets.
I really appreciate the way you articulated a feeling I’ve never been able to properly express! Thank you and wish you a happy and healthy future!
That’s beautiful. When I was a teenager my friends picked up smoking. My mom had cancer so I didn’t, but I did pick up stepping outside and having a chat with strangers. And yeah it’s been a wonderful habit to have. That and a willingness to say yes to adventure have led to an interesting life.
Grandmothers on both sides were 1pack/day.
One died early 60’s from smoking, other is into her 90s still getting around on her own.
On average.
There’s always outliers on both sides. Which is important to remember because some pack a dayers making it to 90 makes people think it’s bullshit.
And for some people smoking is much worse than normal.
George Burns made it to 101 smoking five cigars and drinking a quart of scotch a day.
I do not recommend emulating his regimen for a long life.
If you smoke enough you can theoretically travel back in time.
How many minutes did I lose in those 5 years when I was smoking 3 packs a day?
2,190,000 minutes, or 4.167 years.
60 cigs x 20 minutes x 5 years x 365 days
Thank you, I was afraid people would think I was living up to my username…I am genuinely curious but also lazy and bad at math.
Drinking coffee adds to your life. Soo.
Could make a Jaramusch film out that.
Well shit, I lost a lot of minutes between the ages of 16 and 24.
I smoke a lot between ages 16 to 36, so I should be dead yesterday.
Don’t worry. It’s the worst minutes at the end of your life
What about the people from ww2 era that drink whiskey and smoke cigars daily and live to be 90?
Explain these assholes who do hard drugs and ruin the lives of everyone around them, and eventually get off drugs but still smoke like freight trains into their 80s and even when finally on breathing machines.
Meanwhile some good people who never did much wrong nor tried to destroy their body just randomly die at 50-60 years old.
Unfortunately morals and clean living are no indication of genetics.
Nothing will fuck you half as hard as random chance. For every one of those people there are a lot of people who died young thanks to lifestyle choices.
It used to be an hour. How is this “research” useful?
It shows how your time is only 1/3 as valuable as it used to be.
You’re being replaced with robots during the planets sixth mass extinction.
It adds tasty context.
