Aaron's Interview

It was the kind of thing that my friends did. They seemed to smoke a lot. It seems stupid in hindsight. I never really cared what my friends did but, you know, it was just a way of doing something else with them. And it was the same way with the culture of where we were, what we were doing. All the guys would go out and take a break at the same time. You’d smoke your cigarette. I didn't want to be the guy standing there, you know, with my hands in my pockets being the outsider so, you know, I just started smoking a little bit here and there and eventually it just kind of snowballed and finally, you know, just became part of my routine. Quitting was pretty tough for me. I mean, I would try over and over. I would get maybe 2 weeks, maybe a month, maybe 6 weeks. I would get past the actual physical craving that I had and I realized that it was just a mental craving that I had and it was a mental roadblock that I had to get through and realize that I'm no longer physically—I no longer physically need this stuff. It's just a mental thing that I need to get through and I was able to do that. I was mentally strong enough that I could come to the realization that it's not something that I need, and that was the big thing for me. My father just wondered why I didn't quit sooner. I don't think he realized how hard it was on me, but now that I actually have done it and followed through on something I said I was going to do, you know, you can tell that he's proud of me for following through on a commitment of mine and sticking to it. And it's the same way through my whole family. I think they're more proud of me for the commitment I made and just the way I can get through it than anything.