/lit/ - Literature

how do i convince myself that smoking doesn't look cool and isn't socially helpful so i wouldn't fall into a potential addiction? most of the people in my family have been chain smokers, same goes for half of my irl friends. they get occasional health issues and talk about quitting it eventually like everyone does, but apart from that i haven't seen anything that would deter one away from it. i've been miming the smoking motion ever since i was a little kid, specfically my grandfather's way of holding the cigarette, and i can't help but think that i'll end up buying two packs a day down the line.
what do?

>>19885185
This is missing the heart of the matter by a mile. Having decent-to-good social links really doesn't change the situation at all. I naturally developed an instinct at hiding the reality that is the emptiness and impotence i've been living in for the past 5 years, with a whole lot of luck, to where 98% of people do believe i am doing well for myself, checking all the boxes that you have mentioned for ''status'' points, and it still hasn't done jack shit. I don't get excluded from events nor going through the expect air of awkwardness when meeting people, whether old friends or recent acquaintances, and they even perceive me as somewhat cool, as lame as that phrase sounds. Knowing how to dodge possibly compromising questions with some wit and a laff helps a lot. I feel awful for deceiving people, yet that has settled into my natural state of navigating the world, just like most artists and covert junkies do.
But the ultimate point is: It hasn't changed the real stagnation, it hasn't cleared the rubbles away from the day to day existence, because the issue doesn't exactly lie within the social acceptance/rejection. It was never about them, and always about YOU. It's an inner problem. Engage with your own self, and learn to respect it like the poster above said.