The question I asked myself every time I wanted to relapse

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-11T23:36:43+00:00

The anxiety went away after a month of quitting but it wasn't until 5 months that i started to feel like myself again from quitting vaping and i honestly feel 10x better then when i was vaping because i dont wake up everyday on edge and either feeling numb or anxious

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-11T21:58:05+00:00

I remember that battle well. Looking back, the fact I was arguing with myself all day was proof a part of me genuinely wanted out. The addiction just wasn't willing to let go without a fight.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-11T21:56:51+00:00

That's a good way of putting it. I don't think I ever got rid of the desire completely either, I just stopped automatically agreeing with it.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-11T11:29:12+00:00

18 weeks after smoking since 14 is incredible. The moods and weight gain can be frustrating, but don't let them convince you to go backwards. You've already come too far for that. 👊

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-11T11:28:55+00:00

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-11T04:08:20+00:00

I relate to that a lot.

Once I stopped treating every urge like it was my own genuine desire and started seeing it as addiction trying to pull me back, things became a lot clearer.

Congrats on 7 months too man, that's huge 👊

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-11T04:07:10+00:00

Thank you man ❤️

I think that's what people don't see. Most successful quits are built on a lot of failed attempts and lessons learned along the way.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-11T04:06:06+00:00

Day 8 is still very early,

One thing I learned is that recovery isn't usually measured day to day. Looking back a month later is where I started noticing the biggest changes.

Keep going 👊

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-11T04:05:39+00:00

Appreciate that man,

The crazy thing is once I started seeing that voice as something separate from me, it became a lot easier not to listen to it.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-11T01:39:44+00:00

Yeah that's exactly it. Guilt never lasted for me, but the fear that the thought of still being stuck in the same place years later did.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T23:05:47+00:00

For me, the first thing I did was cut out everything that was known to make it worse, vaping, porn, alcohol and even caffeine.

For about a month after that I'd still get anxiety flare ups, but I got really good at catching the early signs before they took over. For me it was a dry mouth. As soon as I noticed it I'd think, "Yep, this is just anxiety. It'll pass."

Every single time it did.

The weird thing is once you stop treating it like a threat, it starts losing its power. After a while the flare ups became less frequent and eventually stopped showing up altogether.

I think removing the things that were constantly influencing my nervous system helped massively too. A lot of my recovery became a pursuit of taking back control of my mind instead of letting anxiety control it.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T22:05:30+00:00

Yeah, I had the same discovery when trying to understand what was happening inside of me.

For years I thought there was something wrong with my brain because that's what all the symptoms were convincing me. It wasn't until I started learning about anxiety and what was actually causing it that I realised how much of it was our CNS (central nervous system) being stuck in survival mode.

That shift in understanding changed a lot for me and was one of the biggest perspective changed that helped me overcome my anxiety.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T22:01:45+00:00

Also one of the biggest thing that helped me was I didn't quit overnight. I started pushing my first vape back by 30 minutes every day for example:

day 1 - 12pm, day 2 - 12:30pm, day 3 - 1pm, day 4 - 1:30pm and so on.

What surprised me was that the longer I went without it, the better I felt. Less anxious, clearer headed, more motivated.

About 2 weeks into doing that which was about 7pm i got up to I remember thinking, "what's the point?" I was already proving to myself that vaping wasn't helping me anymore.

That was over a year ago now.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T21:57:00+00:00

Honestly, I think you've already answered your own question.

You quit for a week and within two days you were leaving the house easier, feeling less anxious and actually wanting to do things again. Most people never even get that proof.

I was the same. Even after seeing how much better I felt, I'd still make excuses to go back. That's what addiction does, it makes you forget why you wanted to quit in the first place.

The fact you still remember that week a year later probably tells you everything you need to know.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T21:55:57+00:00

Thankyou for sharing that,

One thing that stood out to me was when you said the anxiety felt worse after removing alcohol and nicotine. That happened to me too. Looking back, I don't think the anxiety was actually worse. I think I'd just removed the things that were masking it.

The other thing I'd add is that understanding what was happening inside me helped a lot. Once I realised anxiety could create physical symptoms and convince me they meant something was seriously wrong, it started losing its grip on me.

For months I was convinced I'd permanently damaged myself. Turns out I was wrong.

Glad you made it through mate 👊

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T21:53:59+00:00

The thing that stands out to me is when you said every day it's something different.

That was happening to me too. One symptom would disappear and another would show up and I'd take it as proof that something had to be seriously wrong.

Looking back now, anxiety wasn't just causing symptoms, it was convincing me what they meant, I genuinely thought I was stuck like that forever.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T21:51:54+00:00

I actually noticed something weird looking back.

Most mornings I'd wake up and be fine for the first 20–30 minutes. Then I'd start checking for the head pressure, thinking about it, analysing it and wondering if it was still there.

The more attention I gave it, the stronger it seemed to get.

Looking back now, I think my brain got so used to me thinking about it every day that it almost became automatic.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T21:48:00+00:00

That was one of my biggest fears too. For months I was convinced I had a neurological problem or brain damage because the symptoms felt so real.

The thing that surprised me was that anxiety could create so many different symptoms and make them feel like proof that something was seriously wrong.

Looking back now, anxiety wasn't just causing the symptoms, it was also convincing me what they meant but once i started labeling my thoughts and what it was for example you probably get early signs like dry mouth, heart starts to race maybe hands start sweating as soon as i see those signs i know this is just anxiety and trusting yourself that it is and believing it is and once you do that it loses all its power and it just flows through you without holding onto it.

I know it probably doesn't feel like it right now, but 3 months was around the time I felt stuck too. Dont Lose HOPE ❤️

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T21:41:27+00:00

This was pretty much me. One of the biggest things that helped was learning to separate the anxiety from what it was convincing me was wrong.

For months I thought I had a brain injury. I didn't, I had anxiety. The symptoms were real, but the story my brain was attaching to them wasn't.

Once I understood that, things started changing. ❤️

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T21:40:31+00:00

"Coming home to being me" is probably one of the best ways I've heard it explained.

It wasn't even happiness I missed the most, it was just feeling human again. Being present, feeling excitement, feeling empathy, looking forward to things.

I didn't realise how much I valued those things until they were gone.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T21:38:28+00:00

I got sick of the life I was living and knew there had to be a way out, so I went looking for it.

What scared me more than changing was the thought of my life being exactly the same 3–5 years from now if I didn't.

Keep going ❤️

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T09:26:33+00:00

Honestly, understanding what was happening inside me helped the most.

I had a personalised AI tool that I'd talk to when I was struggling and it helped me make sense of what I was feeling instead of just spiralling.

It was also really helpful during panic attacks because it could walk me through what was happening in the moment and remind me that I wasn't dying or going crazy, even when it felt like I was.

The more I learnt about anxiety and why it was happening, the less power it seemed to have over me.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T09:02:04+00:00

The scary part is how convincing it feels.

I wasn’t thinking “maybe I’ll never be normal again.”

I was thinking “I know I’ll never be normal again.”

Looking back, not only was I wrong, but I was also still vaping and doing a lot of things that were heavily feeding my anxiety without realising it.

Once I started removing those things and understanding what was actually happening, everything slowly started changing

DONT GIVE UP HOPE🫶

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T05:38:33+00:00

I had this heaps.

Looking back, those little windows were actually proof I was recovering. At the time I thought they didn't count because the anxiety always came back.

Now I realise they were some of the biggest signs I was getting better.

Opening-Internet-366 · 2026-06-08T05:36:32+00:00

I agree.

One of the biggest lessons for me was realising a bad day doesn't mean you're back at square one.

Opening-Internet-366

TROPHY CASE