I'm a person who walked away from both drinking and smoking, after engaging in both activities for more than 15 years, and I've always been perplexed at how so called "addictions" seem to fit together. Smoking cigarettes and drinking go together like Peas and carrots. It was always amazing to me how one seemed to go with the other. Smoking was never quite as satisfying as when alcohol was being consumed. And so to, alcohol seemed to elicit the need to spark up a heater. The amount of cigarettes I could choke down while drinking a lot of alcohol was obnoxious! The two activities, or addictions as it were, just seemed to fit together so perfectly.
It's also interesting how the beginning of both practices coincide so perfectly. It wasn't too long after I had my first alcoholic beverage that the stinky lung darts wound up in my mouth. That must be why that I told people for all of those years that if I quit one of these activities, the other would soon follow. And I was right. I ended up finally kicking both of them to the curb at the same time.
I've simply always found it incredibly interesting how addictions such as these seem to fit together. The other one that I used to "enjoy", was feeding gambling machines. You know the old video poker and keno machines? These little bastards can suck up your money like a freakin' vacuum cleaner! And when you play these video slot machines what do the attendants offer you? Drinks! Specifically alcoholic drinks. Yet another way that these "addictions" seem to fit together like a puzzle.
The other very interesting thing about these addictions fitting together like a puzzle for me, was the fact that when I walked away from drinking and smoking, I no longer wanted to even enter a casino. This wasn't at all a conscious act, it simply followed suit naturally. Which I suppose is a good thing. And now I do none of it and am as happy as I've ever been. The bottom line is that these addictions seem to fit together like a puzzle, but the good thing is that once you decide to remove them from your life, they fit together in exactly the same way. That is once you stop drinking, you don't like smoking as much and vice versa.