On similar products

Sometimes I feel like I'm smoking a cigarette when I'm drinking a bottle of yakult. I haven't smoked a cigarette before. But I think the two experiences are quite similar. Let me first describe a typical case of drinking yakult.

First, the cause. I usually drink yakult when I'm feeling stressed, bored, or pensive. I would like to also add, "any combination of the three", but I think those three states are mutually exclusive.

Second, the manner in which I drink it. Most of the times it would be when I'm on the computer. So maybe after 2 hours of thinking and writing an essay or a fictional work, I would think: Bah, I need a break. And then I would turn on iTunes, play some music, and go to the fridge to get the drink. I would then lean back on my chair, drink yakult, and listen to some music. A large number of times would also be when I've been reading quite a bit in my bedroom. As well as before going to work, or school. It's like there's something within me that goes: I think I'll go grab a bottle of yakult and enjoy it on my bed, while listening to the morning radio, for five minutes, just before I step out the door to the outside world.

Third, the feeling after I consume the product. Sometimes I feel a sense of satisfaction, sometimes I feel a sense of dread - it depends on what I have to do after I finish that moment of rest. If it's going to work for the rest of the day usually it's the latter. If it's going back to finish a piece of writing usually I feel better.

Now, just replace yakult with cigarettes and there you have it. The sentences would still sound the same.

You can replace yakult with a glass of milk - which I very often drink as well - and it'll still be a similar experience. Same goes for alcoholic beverages, though those usually come when I'm in a more pensive state. Point is, the mentalities when consuming such products are actually more similar to each other than we would initially think.

Sometimes, on the way back home or to somewhere, when the sky's grey and the weather's cold in a nice way, I would feel like getting a can of drink (usually the wang wang sweet milk, the childish one) so I can relax on a bench, drink it, and think about things. I could have been smoking a cigarette or drinking a can of beer for all I know. Health differences aside, they're all the same.