Hi all,
I am new to the community and am reaching out for support on the beginning my journey to kick a JUUL addiction.
I purchased my first JUUL January of 2018 after a friend convinced me that they had significantly less nicotine in them than a pack of cigarettes. "They're harmless, really," I remember her saying in the car as we pulled up to the smoke shop. I had it for a week or so, and then decided that it was a mistake to buy one and that I had no business in purchasing one as someone who never smoked cigarettes. I got rid of it and was fine for a few months.
April of 2018 rolls around and I buy another one after using my friend's device at a night out drinking. I convinced myself that I would use it only during a night out, and that since I didn't get addicted before, I would not get addicted now. Little did I know, that couldn't be further from the truth. I began hitting it in the morning with coffee, in between classes, after meals, and in bed after a long day. I was smoking nearly a pod a day and spending around 40$ a week on pods. After 6 months of JUULing, I decided to switch to the Sourin, a refillable vaping device. While this did save money, I still found myself enslaved to nicotine. I decided on New Years Day 2019 that I would quit for good. I threw my device down the garbage chute and was nicotine free for a few days. My boyfriend still had (and does) JUUL so I would hit his when we hung out, but did not have one of my own. My roommates JUULed and I would hit theirs whenever I had the chance. Although I didn't own a device anymore, I was still finding ways to get nicotine.
Fast forward to March of this year, I end up caving and buying a device, telling myself that "graduation will be the day I quit." I am set to begin graduate school in the Fall, and here we are, almost July... still fighting this damn JUUL addiction. It is the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about when falling asleep. I am used to hitting it when I wake up, after meals, while driving, and especially in social situations since many of my friends still JUUL. It's been about 6 hours since my last hit, and I am determined for that to be my last.
I have my reasons to quit: saving money, feeling more energized (I have noticed how fatigued the JUULing makes me feel), not having the distraction of constantly thinking about my next hit, and just not having a chemical dependency. It has just been so much harder that I ever thought it would be and had I known it would be this difficult.. I wouldn't have ever gotten involved in the first place. If anyone has any advice to share on kicking a vaping addiction (or just a nicotine addiction in general) please do share.
