The beginning is usually the best place to start.
I bought my first vape pen about three years ago, having convinced myself it would be a good way to quit smoking cigarettes. It was! Within a month, my lungs felt better. I could hike again without feeling like my lungs were going to explode. It felt like a big win.
It all went according to plan for a while. After a month, I lowered the nicotine content of my vape juice. A month later I did it again. A month after that, though, I was using it twice as much and didn't feel ready to step down. Then the whole buying e liquid at a special store and replacing coils and cleaning tanks thing got annoying, so I switched to a disposable e cig. Then I felt guilty about throwing away batteries and plastic daily, so I decided a juul would be the happy medium I was looking for.
It started with one 3% pod a day, but now it's two. I spend more money on juul pods now than I ever did on cigarettes. And as my loved ones' patience with my vaping has declined, I've gotten sneakier. I vape in bathrooms. I take my dog for an unreasonable number of walks when we visit family. I eat lunch out instead of bringing it so I can cheech out my car with minty clouds. I feel like I'm leading a double life, but instead of something exciting like international espionage, I am sitting low in the driver's seat of my car in a mall parking lot, desperately sucking on a plastic rectangle and hoping that none of my coworkers decide to treat themselves to a quick trip to Sephora.
It is so stupid! I may not think of myself as a smoker (oh, small but comforting technicality!) , but I am absolutely a nicotine addict.
So as a reminder for myself, these are the things I am looking forward to as an ex-nicotine addict:
• No more hiding
• No more scheming inconspicuous ways/places to vape
• Calmer thoughts
• More money
• More time doing things I enjoy
• Living free of nicotine's absurd mind control
• Better productivity at work and home
• No more urgent, secretive trips to the gas station
• Better sleep
• Better focus
• Better athletic ability
• Fewer sinus infections
• Lower blood pressure (it's always been pretty good, but why not get competitive about it?)
• No more horrifyingly large stashes of spent juul pods
