"I want to quit [insert bad thing here] but I can't"
On enjoying bad things but also wanting to give them up
Wait, But What? is our weekly advice column for paid supporters. If you’ve got a burning life question (whether it’s how to phoenix out of a dark spot or how to stand up to a boss who thinks you're just in the room to grab a flat white), drop your question here, and we might just answer it!
Hello Bel. Any advice on how to quit smoking? I need to quit because it’s bad, and it gives me existential dread (of course), but how do we get through life without this thing that my mind tells me I need as a “little treat”???
There are also two of us trying to quit in my house, so we suffer from double the withdrawal symptoms and double the risk of someone being tempted off the bandwagon. Any tips?
Dear bad bad not good,
Even though I tell the doctors I don’t smoke, I am a bad girl and, like you, j’adore indulging in a wistful durry or vape out a window every so often, looking towards a lighthouse as the sky darkens and another day ends, summoning some poignant philosophy.
I love a durry outside a bar, a durry with a stranger on the pavement, a durry when everything is said and done, a durry with a friend, a durry with a drink. I only durry occasionally but when I do, I enjoy it.
I’ve had some of the best conversations of my life, exchanging nicotine, switching lighters, and going on late-night quests to knock on some Portuguese lady’s door who sells tobacco if you knock twice and say the right words. Put short: It’s fun. And not much of the world feels that way at the moment.
It’s bad, I know, but like many stupid things, we do them anyway. For anyone who isn’t a paying subscriber, my top tip is to get hypnotised.
And for the cute others, here’s more below: