My wife and my 10th anniversary is coming up this year. She quit smoking before we got married. Years later I told her how proud I was of her quitting because it would have been a requirement of mine before saying our vows.
5 years ago she started smoking again when her father died of COVID. I was patient with her in the beginning but I have become increasingly frustrated with her unwillingness to quit. We have been looking forward to a 10th anniversary vow renewal but I told her I won’t do it unless she quits. I told her I wouldn’t have married a smoker. I will not remarry her while she is a smoker.
Am I being an asshole here?
It sounds like you’re putting extra pressure on her instead of just being loving and supporting, ironically making it harder for her to quit. Cigarettes are notoriously known to be hard to quit. There are always stories of addicts who quit all drugs but struggle to stop smoking. I obviously don’t know the full situation here though.
I get it 100%. The circumstances that led to her quitting the first time (a medical thing) aren’t able to be replicated. Also, the circumstances of her relapse (her father’s death) were sharp to say the least.
Where do you draw the line? At what point do you say, “this is us.” “That is not us.” ? I could just as easily turn a blind eye to hoarding. It’s not dissimilar. But I refuse to live like people who live in garbage. If my wife was addicted to piles of junk, few would argue against me taking a stand against it. Pick an addiction; they all have social connotations. What if she was an abusive alcoholic? I can say no to that right? What if she was a functional alcoholic? Am I within my rights as a husband to put conditions on behaviors that represent “us”?
The family I grew up in has a zero smoking policy. I have a zero smoking policy. I love my wife, but I will never support her addiction.
You can draw your own line. I’m just saying your method might backfire. If you’re not willing to approach it another way, it might just be months of stress for both of you. Maybe not though, it could work. Everyone is different.
You and your wife are in a hard situation.
Unless you’re going about it like an asshole, no. You’re communicating, standing by your position, and setting a boundary.
She knows smoking is dangerous, she knows you don’t like it, she knows you want her to quit, she’s quit before so she knows how to do it.
Have you considered compromising with vapes? Still not as good for you as not smoking at all, but significantly healthier than smoking and doesn’t make everything smell horrific. She can get that nicotine buzz she craves with very few of the downsides. She can also then taper her nicotine content and quit that way if she decides to.
I’m trying not to to be an asshole about it. She knows my stance and I’m not budging. That said, I don’t throw it in her face. In fact, I only told her once that I won’t do the vow renewal until she quits. We have an otherwise perfect marriage.
We haven’t had the vape conversation, but I’m not in favor of that either. You don’t quit drinking by switching from beer to vodka. I honestly don’t know how I would feel about her switching to vape. I hate the smell of her addiction but that’s not my biggest issue. I hate the effect on her health but that’s not the complete picture either. I hate the concept of a smoking addiction. It’s not my identity, and I don’t want it to be the identity of us as a couple. We are blue collar AF, but I still feel like her smoking diminishes us.
I used to be proud of her for quitting and staying quit. Now I’m not anymore.
That identity thing seems counterproductive. The way addictions works, you generally kind of stay addicted indefinitely even if you manage to quit and stay off the substance forever. And in contrast to beer vs. vodka, vapes are healthier than cigarettes - even if that doesn’t actually change anything for you, it’s definitely better for her.
my dad and my gram smoked all the time and i hated how even my hair would smell when i got back home :(
I grew up with smoker parents. That shit is so rank, and I grew up when smokers were extremely blasé about secondhand smoke - every room was always smoke-filled when smokers were in it, and obviously it’s OK to smoke in a car with children if you open one window.
Cannot stress enough the smell like shit part. Y’all genuinely stink out loud.
After 25+ years of smoking, I am now about 18 months smoke-free. It is 100% worth it to struggle and make the push to quit.
Do I want one every day? Yes. Do I feel like a million bucks (and have more money) since I quit? Hell yes.
Today is my 2 year anniversary and I hate it. I’m a lifetime smoker through and through.
I will smoke again in the future, I’m just currently not in a place to smoke right now.
Stay strong dude. ❤️
Good job dude
Consider vapes, rather than smoking. You can get your nicotine without the worst side effects. You can also taper your nicotine levels over time, so you get less and less. That’s what I did and it worked well for me. Eventually I just stopped vaping, and since I had tapered my nicotine levels I didn’t really crave it (other than the activity itself, but even that went away unless I think about it specifically).
Hey you don’t need to man. I’m the same way as you but i just have to accept that i love them and one is the same as a billion and i can’t do it. Stay strong.
Mad impressive, congratulations :)
Great job! Quit 5+ years ago, though I’ve slipped and had a couple in that time. Not buying 'em was the biggest thing. Still want one whenever I see actors smoking in a movie or show… so the craving never quite goes all the way away.
I never realized how much it makes you smell until I stopped and could immediately smell it on anyone, no matter how hard they tried to hide it.
Ex smokers can smell that shit anywhere. I can smell someone smoking on the highway if their windows are down.
I walk out of gas stations and can smell it with no one around smoking. It’s crazy! Lol. Ive moved to the vape. Which is bad I know but way better than cigs. Eventually I’ll quit that too, but man. Glad to get away from nasty cigs.
People say it never gets easier, but it does.
I’ll be a year tomorrow. It definitely gets easier.
I’m an ex-smoker, but I’m able to have a couple every month or two without going back full blown. One thing I have noticed is how smoking spikes your heart rate. I can look at my Fitbit data and see exactly where I smoked.
I’d heard about weight gain from quitting, which I have experienced, but I always thought it was attributed to increased appetite and not linked to cardiac activity. The stress on your heart is not just cumulative, it is acutely affective every time you light up.
Never marry a smoker who says they’ll quit for you. They’ll probably resent you for the rest of their lives.
I literally quit for my wife the day we met.
I was a two pack a day Navy punk. Met her at a friends house with a large group of folks, and at some point she mentioned she could never date a smoker. On the way home I picked up a pack of patches and spent the next few weeks quitting. We started seriously dating about a year later and beyond the occasional cigar/cigarette socially while drinking (like once a year if that) I’ve been smokeless. This was 2006.
Why would I resent her for my choice?
I guess I should say be careful rather than never.
Some relationships are stronger than others, and people are different.
I think you quitting immediately after meeting her is kinda different from saying that you’ll quit for the partner who already got together with you while you were smoking.
