Wow! It's been a long time since I last posted here. I wanted to check in and report on what I've been up to.
I'm nearly a year into my quit. I haven't had the first slip-up. Have I been tempted? Sure, but when I think of how great I feel physically and mentally since I quit, it takes the temptation away. I got the flu back at the beginning of March. I had cut down to 8mg nic juice, but I was so ill for about a week I literally forgot to vape. In that time I figured I had withdrawn from nicotine and decided to stick with 0mg juice from there on out. I've gone months without vaping and will pick it up for a couple of days and stop for awhile again. Vaping was my lifeline when I quit smoking analogs. Now it's something I can do safely in social settings or when that temptation strikes that won't compromise my quit.
My dad will have been off analogs for one year on Christmas day. My cousin quit smoking within four weeks of purchasing a Silver Bullet. Folks, these are men who both watched their fathers die from lung cancer directly related to heavy cigarette smoking and still smoked heavily themselves for decades. Men who swore they'd be smoking on their way to the grave, because quitting was too hard, too painful. It has taken my dad awhile, but he's come off nicotine himself and my cousin ended up switching to Snus, which he uses sparingly and only when his cravings are strong.
We were once a family predominantly comprised of smokers. Now we're almost completely smoke-free. I'm working on my sister who quit during her pregnancy, but took it back up shortly after giving birth. She wants an e-cig kit for Christmas, because she really wants to give up the analogs again, but struggles with the fact that she works with mostly smokers. Once she quits we will be a smoke-free family. E-cigs have been a Godsend for us and we are living proof that they do work.
