Thank You for Not Smoking
Written by William Urbanski
About a dozen years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night clutching my chest: It was hard to breathe and felt like someone was pressing their knuckles into my ribs. It was the night after a particularly long day at the beach with my friends during which I had made my way through at least a pack and a half of cigarettes (Peter Jackson Light was my brand). Before this night, obviously, I knew that smoking was bad, but it all just seemed like a big joke and a way to stick it to the man. But lying there on my bed (then eventually on my floor), I realized that my smoking habit was catching up with me. While I did not quit right away, this was a major turning point in my so-called smoking career and one that I would think back on frequently in years to come.
Fortunately for me, the decision to move to Korea was the second major turning point in my smoking career and the real impetus to quit for good. Since coming to Korea involved both diving into an unfamiliar culture as well as working around children, it was (and is still) my strong belief that being a smoker would not only create a bad first impression but the wrong impression. While Korea’s liberal attitude toward smoking in the early 2010s certainly tested my resolve, in the past decade there has been a substantial reassessment of smoking policies that has made it easier to not light up.
If you enjoy smoking, I have no problem with that. Seriously, just do your thing. But if you are one of the many, many smokers who would like to drop the habit, the good news is that in Gwangju and many other parts of the country, the writing is literally on the wall that 2022 is your year to quit.
Then vs. Now: Smoking in Korea
Seollal is a chance to reflect on the upcoming year and also a time to look back. Glancing into the metaphorical rear-view mirror, one of the biggest changes to have taken place in Gwangju, and in Korea as a whole over the past decade, is a reappraisal (at least officially) of smoking.
When I first arrived in Korea in 2011, smoking was a lot more accepted and commonplace than it is today. Back in those days, it was very normal to see people smoking in restaurants, bars, noraebang (노래방, karaoke rooms), PC rooms, and many other indoor places. Teachers at one of my elementary schools even used to pop outside between classes for a butt, then come back in reeking of the stuff – a practice that was officially not allowed but tolerated nonetheless. In addition to being allowed to smoke in most places, cigarettes used to be dirt cheap: no more than two-thousand won per pack. Had I not quit smoking mere months before arriving on the peninsula, I would have thought this was smoking heaven.
But surely enough, each and every year, there are more and more restrictions that are imposed and enforced. Smoking in restaurants, of course, is a no-no (just like in most indoor places). Many public spaces, especially parks and walking trails, have no smoking signs all over the place. Somewhere along the line, the price of cigarettes doubled as well (on a side note, they are still less than half the price as in Canada). Surprisingly, these measures have worked pretty well, and while it is still very common to see people smoking in Gwangju, on a day-to-day basis the rate is far lower than a decade ago. As well, those that do choose to smoke often retreat into “smoker alleys” where they can congregate (and disgustingly spit on the ground) in peace.
Specifically, within Gwangju, there have been a number of major policy changes that have impacted people’s ability to smoke, my favorite being the designation of many apartment complexes (more than 60 at the time of writing this) as smoke-free living spaces. From what I can tell you, after living in the full gamut of housing types (officetel, live-in office units, where people smoke in the stairwells, a jutaek beside a road that doubled as a smoking area for a local restaurant, an apartment above a bar, etc.), I can say that living in a smoke-free building is wonderful. Even as a former smoker who completely understands the compulsion to smoke (and to a certain extent supports people’s right to smoke), I get furious when someone so much as lights up in my parking lot.
Vaping: Not a Good Alternative to Cigs
While the smoking rate nationwide continues to decrease, vaping has become much more popular, and it is easy to find vape shops all over the city. That vaping has skyrocketed in popularity is not all that surprising since it is marketed under the guise of being more socially acceptable (and healthier) than smoking. But make no mistake, it is still awful for you. When using one of these vape devices, people tend to take huge hits of vaporized nicotine simply because it is a smoother type of smoke. In many ways, vaping reminds me of smoking shisha – a practice that is extremely popular in many parts of the world but thankfully does not seem to have gained much traction in Korea. Whatever the alleged “benefits” of vaping are, the fact still remains that it involves filling your lungs with toxic smoke.
How to Quit
I am not going to run through the various methods people use to quit smoking (they are extremely easy to find), but it is important to highlight a common misconception about quitting smoking. That misconception is that many people would quit if they only knew how to quit. The fact of the matter is that quitting is pretty simple and can be outlined in two steps:
- Do not put a cigarette in your mouth.
- Do not light that cigarette on fire.
Pretty simple stuff. What may actually be more helpful is to think about why to quit. The question of why to quit is a much more powerful motivator, and it is easy to think up a few reasons why you should stop pumping tobacco and nicotine into your lungs, but here are a couple to get you started: If you smoke for a long time, you will almost certainly develop cancer; if you are a smoker, by the time you get into your fifties, you are going to start developing all sorts of health problems; if you are a smoker, you are Big Tobacco’s little tool, and they are laughing at you; smoking smells bad; smoking demonstrates a lack of self-control; smoking is expensive and a waste of money; if you stop smoking, you will be healthier and happier. You get the picture.
The Right to Smoke
If cigarettes and vaping devices were to be introduced today as new products, it is very unlikely that they would be approved for sale to the general public. But, that is not the world we live in. People have a right to smoke, but once they get addicted (and they will), they do not have a choice to keep smoking. Let me explain: Nobody in their right mind would dispute that cigarettes (and nicotine) lead to dependence. So, it follows that the more an individual smokes, the less of a “choice” it is and the more of a compulsion it becomes. This does not happen overnight, but it is this pernicious characteristic of smoking that makes it so dangerous. As well, just because you have the “right” to do something does not imply that you should. You can go buy a dozen donuts and stuff them in your face, but that is probably not a good thing to do.
Bad News and Good News
If you make the good decision to give up smoking, the bad news is that the desire to smoke will never fully go away. I get an occasional desire to smoke, and this is ten-plus years after my last cig. The good news is that as time goes on, these desires become increasingly fleeting and your ability to resist the urge will grow stronger, much like a muscle that grows with resistance.
To be free from the need to hack butts to get a nic-fix is a wonderful thing. If you want to quit, you can definitely do it if you keep focused on the why. And if you need some extra motivation, just look at all the no-smoking signs around the city: The writing is on the wall.
Photographs by William Urbanski.
The Author
William Urbanski is the managing editor of the Gwangju News. He used to hack butts but has been smoke free for over ten years. Instagram @will_il_gatto