My name is Jordan and I began smoking cigarettes when I was 16 years old. I am now 28 and went cold turkey on February 22, 2017. I spent 12 years of my adolescent life with a pack a day. I tried quitting when I was 22 years old and it worked for 11 weeks. In those 11 weeks I tried the patch, the gum, and many other products that obviously did not do the trick. On February 22, 2017 I just decided enough was enough and I would give it another shot. The difference: having a vape aloud my body to not only quit cigarettes cold turkey but it provided me with SOMETHING. Vaping saved my life. People who don’t have a history with cigarettes don’t know the amount of stress and anxiety that overwhelms you when you are trying to quit. I used a vape flavored blueberry or coconut for the first year I was cigarette free. Since then, I was able to stop vaping and move on to lollipops or toothpicks. Addiction is a disease all in it’s own whether it’s having lollipops while you drive or using a toothpick after every meal. The physical motion alone is an addiction. My health has never been better and I am cigarette free to this day, thanks to a little idea called vaping -just something that eased the stress and absolute anxiety that comes with quitting cigarettes. When I was 16 cigarettes were it. This is to all the parents whose kids are vaping:
Would you rather them pick up cigarettes instead?
Would you rather them try pain killers instead?
Would you rather them try drinking instead?
I hope all parents put vaping in that kind of perspective because if vaping wasn’t available, their kids would be smoking cigarettes instead. Plain and simple.