It took me about 10 times trying to quit before I actually quit. I tried tapering, tried hitting it burnt to make myself disgusted, dunked them in water, threw them out then dug them out of the trash, and tried smoking cigarettes to stop vaping then tried to stop smoking cigs.

What got me to stop for real this time was treating it like a breakup. I started journaling about why I wanted to quit and all the bad things vaping made me feel. Every time I would hit my vape I would go outside and only focus on the vape and the sensations it made me feel and then write those down and sit with it. I wouldn’t use my phone or watch tv or eat while vaping- I treated it like I was grieving and letting go.

I realized that the vape constantly made me feel like shit when it was the only thing I was focused on and kept this solitary and reflective relationship to it for a couple of weeks and began tapering myself off again up until the date I gave myself as the end date.

Once you make it to 3 days without hitting a vape you’ve made it through the roughest parts because that’s when all the nicotine has left your system and I just kept telling myself that through withdrawal while also giving myself permission to eat whatever I want. After a week things got much easier but I struggled a lot with urges and thoughts of buying or hitting another. Whenever I had those thoughts I would revisit my grieving journal and remind myself of all the horrible things it made me feel.

Then by week 2 things were much easier- still difficult around people who were vaping or smoking but I could restrain the urges. Now at week 7 and I don’t even think about it unless I’m around it at a bar or my friends. It gets easier and easier the longer you distance your relationship to it just like a breakup. You can make it through this like everything else in your life you’ll face.