15 years ago today, I quit smoking
I smoked for 25 years.
Then 15 years ago, I discovered vaping. Vaping back then was totally unregulated and very cheap. I went all the way into vaping and that allowed me to quit smoking.
Then I vaped for 10 years. And I mean I vaped HEAVILY for 10 years. But my health recovered exactly like I had just stopped smoking. I had zero side effects from the vaping, aside from a nasty habit of clouding up the place everywhere I went and making any cold windows around me dirty with oily residue.
Then 5 years ago, I realized I had been vaping long enough that tobacco was probably completely out of my world and I didn't need the vaping crutch no more. So I quit vaping. That happened overnight with zero drama.
I am now tobacco-free. Vaping literally saved my life. I don't know that doing it like I did is possible anymore, since vaping has been heavily regulated / taxed virtually out of existence. But that's my story.
Today, I wake up every morning to a lungful of clean air and I love it!
If you're a smoker, this probably doesn't help you. But I just wanted to say it: I'm a non-smoker baby! And more importantly, I don't want to smoke!
4 replies
Congrats!
The fact that you still remember that day really shows that it is a great feat to quit.
On a related note: why the fuck is tobacco still less regulated than weed almost everywhere?
Congratulations it will be 9 years for me next month! I know it's hard even after all these years still addicted, but have no desire to start smoking again.
That's what vaping did for me: it instantly replaced a raging tobacco addiction with a raging vaping addiction. But vaping is orders of magnitude better for the health, and - at least for me - much easier to quit. And when I did quit vaping after 10 years, tobacco was a very distant memory.
The smell of tobacco used to send me craving like crazy. That's always how I started smoking again whenever I tried to quit. That's also why I vaped for so long: it completely squelched the tobacco cravings - until they went away forever just like that, without me even noticing.
Today, I'm pleased to say, the worst tobacco smells do to me is remind me of happy times when I was younger sometimes. So just out of safety, whenever I smell a smoker smoking, I step away to avoid being attracted in any way. But at least I don't want to light one up immediately anymore, thank goodness. Craving sucks.
Congrats! But be careful not to ever get cocky: it only takes one cigarette and you're right back to where you were before. Ask me how I know...