Addiction: Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit. Addiction can be one of the toughest and hardest things to overcome, especially smoking cigarettes. Cigarettes contain nicotine which is highly addictive. The rate of cigarette users are steadily increasing, and I was apart of that population.
My dependence on cigarettes started way back in eighth grade. The fact that I would look cool' smoking was the only thing that was on my mind. I was so blind to the fact that cigarettes were and still are one of the leading causes of deaths. My first cigarette was lit with a bunch of buddies in my backyard after school. We thought we were so cool and bad, and thought we looked older, more mature, and we all loved that feeling. But, in reality, we did not look anything near cool, bad, older, or more mature. We were slowly looking physically tired and smelled horrible.
Cigarettes looked like one big turkey on Thanksgiving Day to me. It was from one cigarette to half a pack a day. I did not realize how dependent I was on cigarettes. My cousins and my brother, who were my role models all smoked, so I found no wrong doing in my actions. When I started to lie and deceive my friends and family, when I was sneaking out in the middle of the night to have a smoke, and when I just stopped caring about everything except my daily intake of nicotine was when I knew I had enough. .
It was not until middle to end of freshman year that I started to cut down and eventually quit. I saw what cigarettes were doing to my family. Distinctly my cousin yelled to me, "Sam get the hell out of here! All I need is a cigarette you brat!" He was a much heavier smoker than I was, he was smoking two packs a day, and I knew for a fact that I did not want to end up like him, screaming or cursing at my little cousin. Then, I started to ask for help. My friends were all supportive of me. They helped my cravings go away by taking me out, telling me facts about cigarettes.
