Most smokers have a love/hate relationship with cigarettes.

They love the taste, hate the smell. They love the act of smoking and think that there is something "cool" about it, even though they know it is bad for their health. They want to quit but don't want to because they love it.

And I was no different.

I had wanted to quit smoking for a long time and for all the obvious reasons: it would save money, better my health; I wouldn't stink so much, etc. Plus, my boyfriend wasn't crazy about kissing a smoker [and if you have, you know how gross it can be]. After, I had decided that I was going to quit [cold turkey, no less] I came across this article [http://www.hmnews.org/article2720.html] and was stunned. The first lines of the article are what really drew my attention,

"Smokers often say that smoking a cigarette helps them concentrate and feel more alert. But years of tobacco use may have the opposite effect, dimming the speed and accuracy of a person's thinking ability and bringing down their IQ, according to a new study led by University of Michigan researchers."

Because I, too, believed that smoking helped to think, concentrate, and be brilliant. Yet in actuality, my 6 years of smoking could be completely damaging my brain. Causing me to have a lower IQ. Smoking is just as bad as alcoholism can be to a person's brain. While the study isn't conclusive and solid, it still scared me enough to commit to really quit smoking. No cheating.

No smoking while drinking or socially. No smoking because I'm stressed out. No cheating.

With this article, I hope to inspire one other person to quit smoking or at least think about how much you are affecting every part of your body when you inhale.

Good luck.