Stop Smoking and Vaping Now!: How to Recover from Nicotine Addiction (Daily Meditation Guide to Quit Smoking)

PART I

Special Vaping

Resources Section

Vaping of nicotine has reached epidemic levels among young people in America. Many young adults vape; but what makes this crisis even more urgent are the levels of uptake among users under the age of eighteen. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found in a review of CDC data from 150,000 teens and preteens that the average age of first trying vaping is only thirteen years old. And far from just being a try-it-once kind of experience, daily use reported by minors who vape rose from 20 percent of them in 2020 to 25 percent in 2021—this enormous increase reflects a truly frightening trend, since nicotine vaping can function as a gateway drug that raises the likelihood of a kid who vapes going on to not only develop a long-term nicotine habit but use harder drugs.

Of course, young folks aren’t the only ones employing vaping technology to consume nicotine. Here are some resources which it is hoped will serve to assist anyone, of any age, who wants to stop.

The Trouble with Vaping

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VAPING

AND WHY YOU SHOULD STOP

These days, many of us think of nicotine vaping as something far less problematic than actually smoking or chewing tobacco; it doesn’t make one’s breath or clothes smell bad, and surely a little mist can’t harm us the way clouds of tobacco smoke do, we may believe. What’s the big issue? But the majority of the public likely isn’t aware that some of these devices can deliver far more nicotine per day to users than even a three-pack-a-day cigarette habit, or that manufacturers of nicotine vaping liquid seem to go out of their way to give their products flavors designed for maximum appeal to kids, including quite young children. Vapes as a consumer offering have become so popular so quickly that regulators have struggled to keep up with issues ranging from toxic chemicals (other than nicotine) in the liquids vaporized to batteries that on occasion explode, causing fire and injury. And they are every bit as addictive as tobacco products.

What is vaping? Vaping is when a handheld electronic device is used to heat a liquid, generating a mist of aerosolized droplets, a.k.a. vapor, that users inhale into their lungs. Excluding cannabis/THC vaping, this liquid is made up of a combination of nicotine with flavoring, propylene glycol, and other additives. The inhaled aerosolized particles can inflame and irritate the lungs, in some instances leading to lung damage like scarring and narrowing of the tubes that convey air in and out of the lungs. Some of the dangerous chemicals that the liquids sold in vape cartridges have been found to contain include carcinogens like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde; lung-damaging diacetyl, diethylene glycol, and acrolein; and heavy metals such as cadmium, nickel, tin, and lead.

Vaping is becoming more and more common; as of 2020, the Centers for Disease Control report that over nine million American adults used e-cigarettes, and more than 14 percent of high school students reported current use of the devices in 2022. Research has found that teenagers who vape are more likely to begin smoking tobacco cigarettes. Just as with tobacco smoke, secondhand exposure to vaping is also becoming widespread. And in the same way that cigarettes are not safe to use during pregnancy, vaping nicotine can cause brain and lung damage and low birth weight in the developing fetus.

Although vaping nicotine is somewhat safer than smoking tobacco, in part because it exposes the user to a smaller number of dangerous chemicals than smoking, it’s still bad for you. While it isn’t definitively understood exactly what chemicals vapes, a.k.a. e-cigarettes, put into the lungs, according to Michael Blaha, MD, clinical research director of the John Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, There’s almost no doubt that vaping exposes you to fewer toxic chemicals than smoking traditional cigarettes. But Dr. Blaha doesn’t want the public to underestimate the dangers of vaping. He explains, Emerging data suggests links to chronic lung disease and asthma; there are also correlations of people who both vape and smoke with having a higher probability of heart disease.

Side effects of vaping can include mouth and throat irritation, headaches, coughing, and feeling queasy. But besides the not-yet-well-understood chemicals in the liquid base, vaping allows a person to take in quantities of nicotine, sometimes well in excess of what that person could inhale if smoking cigarettes. Nicotine, besides being highly addictive, is toxic; it causes adrenaline levels to spike, which brings on rapid heartbeat, as well as elevating blood pressure. The more nicotine you take into your body, the more your risk of a heart attack rises. Although it is possible to buy extra-strength cartridges for vape pens or boost their voltage to deliver a stronger dose of nicotine, doing so maximizes the danger of an adverse health event occurring. At times, injuries and burns have also resulted from exploding batteries in vaping devices.

You might be tempted to think that vaping could be a good way for you to break your attachment to cigarettes. However, research has found that most people who tried to quit cigarettes using vaping didn’t actually ever stop smoking and vaping. Nicotine is not less addictive when delivered in vapor than it is in smoke; its addictive qualities have been compared to those of crack cocaine, which are proverbially powerful.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU STOP VAPING?

• In twenty minutes, your pulse and your blood pressure come back down to normal levels.

• In three days, all nicotine will have left your body.

• After one week, withdrawal symptoms like mood swings, headaches, and increased appetite for food will be greatly decreased, if not completely gone.

Tips for Quitting Vaping

MAKE A LIST

Consider creating a list of reasons why you want to stop vaping. Revisit it daily or every so often to empower your sense of purpose as you leave behind this habitual behavior pattern.

SET A DATE TO QUIT

Do your best to find a time period when your stress levels will be at their most manageable (i.e., avoid finals week, or that big deadline push at your job!) The day before your quitting day, one technique to try is completely switching which hand you use to hold your vape pen or e-cigarette from the hand you habitually use. This can help to rewire the sense of reliance on familiar sensations that one experiences while vaping.

AVOID CRAVING TRIGGERS

Try to avoid triggering situations where you would normally vape, or substitute other activities where possible. If you always end up vaping around certain people, consider how you can change that dynamic.

BE READY FOR WITHDRAWAL’S

SHORT-TERM SENSATIONS

Cravings are likely at first, along with headaches and possibly anxiety. Consider nicotine gum or patches to help blunt the edge at first. Your physician may be able to prescribe you medication that will ease this stage.

MAKE A PLAN

Strategize in advance how you might handle it when cravings arise. Some people who quit play a game for a minute, chew a stick of gum, or take a moment outdoors to lower stress and get past the urge to vape, which is often very brief in duration. Brainstorm some options that could work for you and take note of which ones end up working the best.

DISTRACT YOURSELF FROM TEMPTATION

Vaping urges, although sometimes intense, usually don’t last that long. If you are able to distract yourself on purpose, that will help take your mind off the craving. Find something that is pleasantly distracting for you to do when an urge rears its ugly head. If you can shift your focus for even one or two minutes, chances are the urge will have passed.

GET ACTIVE

According to many experts as well as the experience of many of those trying to quit vaping, exercise is a great way to banish those cravings. TikTok influencers and YouTubers have leaned in on their running, bicycling, or even surfing, as they find that physical activity really helps turn the tables on nicotine urges.

REACH OUT FOR SUPPORT

Just as it is key when quitting cigarettes, lining up support from sympathetic friends, family members, and anyone who’s been through it before themselves can be crucial to succeeding at quitting vaping. Don’t hesitate to ask for this kind of support; it’s not weak to do so. It truly can make the difference to you getting your power back in relation to nicotine, and then you will be able to extend an experienced helping hand to others. Joining in quitting challenges can offer a chance for fellowship with others embarking on their own stop-vaping journeys; young people who want extra support beyond their own personal network can join This Is Quitting by texting DITCHVAPE to 88709.

LOWER YOUR STRESS FOR SUCCESS

Some people vape because they say it helps them feel better when they’re stressed out. But what if in truth, this intention tends to backfire? Research says that in reality, vaping can set up a vicious cycle of unease and cravings and may actually intensify anxiety and stress for many. To achieve freedom from the vaping habit, it’s important to work to lower your stress—in ways that don’t involve vaping. Others quitting vaped nicotine have used techniques such as meditation, talking through it with others, time in nature, and journaling to get a handle on spiking stress.

CELEBRATE YOUR PROGRESS MILESTONES

Those knowledgeable about the quitting process say there is an unexpected dividend to celebrating the steps you succeed in taking on your stop-vaping journey: Doing so can boost your ability to resist cravings, as well as lowering the stress you experience. This is true even if the step you salute is just resisting the urge to backslide for a day—it can take a lot of strength and will to accomplish that!

Try tracking your time steering clear of nicotine with an app like Escape the Vape—you can search on ‘quit vaping’ in the Play Store or in Apple apps, where you’ll find many to choose from. Besides logging streaks of vape-free time, you can also add up the money you’ve saved and set goals, as well as tracking which milestones you’ve reached.

PART II

Personal Stories

INTRODUCTION TO REAL-LIFE STORIES

OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE QUIT

My Story

The refrigerator still held its accustomed two-carton stock of cigarettes that cold December evening, just five days short of Christmas, when events mysteriously paved the way for my becoming a nonsmoker. Members of my women’s A.A. group had gathered at my apartment to bring the program to me because I had been ill and was unable to get to them.

As we sat around the Christmas tree in my tiny living room, Rita began talking about her desire to quit smoking. She wanted to make that her gift to her family on that Christmas in 1976. Although the topic wasn’t A.A., it was quickly apparent that it was a First Step issue. Rita was not the only one among us addicted to nicotine, and we easily saw the parallels between our struggles with alcohol and other drugs and the current struggle with cigarettes. It was true, all of our lives were controlled by our need to smoke wherever and whenever we could.

I was personally startled when I enumerated the activities that demanded I smoke: Driving, talking with a friend, coffee, awaiting dinner (or lunch or breakfast) in a restaurant (or at home), phone conversations, or waiting on a call, leisure bathing in a tub, the morning alarm, the many visits to the bathroom throughout the day, reading a good or a bad book for pleasure or a class, writing a letter, or a grocery list or a paper for one of my graduate courses, hurt feelings, anger, fear of abandonment, an actual or an imagined confrontation with a friend or lover, applying makeup, drying my hair, dressing for the day or evening, unwinding, preparing for bed, visiting with my Higher Power before turning out the light, cleaning house, outlining the day’s activities, daydreaming, and obsessive thinking about my life or him or what if—the list was endless. I was embarrassed, but I loved smoking. I felt supportive of Rita’s desire to quit, but I was quite content to carry on as usual. When friends were in need, however, I was quick to offer an ear, and sometimes unwanted advice.

The next thing I knew the words came tumbling out. But they weren’t musts and shoulds; rather, they were gentle suggestions coming from some place deep within me. I heard myself speaking, but I wasn’t sure who was formulating the ideas I was mouthing. Why not make a decision to be a nonsmoker, Rita? A nonsmoker doesn’t grab for her cigarettes and lighter when the phone rings. A nonsmoker can even go to the bathroom empty-handed or choose to go out for the evening purseless or matchless! A nonsmoker is free to make new choices about places to visit or activities to participate in because the first allegiance is to oneself—not to a pack of cigarettes.

I truly didn’t know where my message was coming from. I was simply the messenger, a steadily puffing messenger at that. Rita, I said, the desire for a cigarette doesn’t even cross a nonsmoker’s mind. This person is free to focus on an engaging conversation, the chirping birds outside the open window, and the laughter of the children on the stairs. There is no resentment about not being able to smoke because one’s identity is as a nonsmoker. I knew that, plain and simply, a nonsmoker isn’t haunted by the urge to inhale the taste of tobacco.

But I was just as certain at that moment that when a smoker quit, he or she felt deprived; after all, cigarettes were friends who comforted. Cigarettes brought relief. It was no wonder I felt this way. A decade earlier, in 1966, I had tried to quit smoking. I had not, however, changed my self-perception. Although I did not smoke for six years, I was still at heart a smoker who (damn it!) didn’t smoke anymore. What a relief when I finally let go of my control over it and took the plunge back into the haven of cigaretteville. When I resumed smoking, it was with a vengeance. I was making up for lost time; it seemed almost based on anger. My consumption quickly escalated from one pack to nearly three packs daily. And never did I think of quitting again.

Yet, here I was, sharing a bit of inner wisdom with Rita about the positive aspects of smoking no more. The subtle difference between quitting a loved addiction and becoming a new personality was not lost on me, however! Moments later my speech ended, and so did that phase of my personal history. I very quietly put out my cigarette and have been a nonsmoker ever since.

I can’t say that my physical body was as content with the new self-perception as was my mind. My body cried out for nicotine—loudly at times. I had heard that smoking muffled our feelings, but I didn’t know how much. And I was to know a new level of rage. On not-too-rare occasions in the first three months after I had quit, all 115 pounds of me startled others as well as myself when I contemptuously screamed at unsuspecting people who wandered across my path. What do you mean I need to tell you what weight oil to put in my car! You work here, don’t you?

But my self-talk saved me. At frequent intervals throughout each morning, each afternoon, and each evening, I took a few moments away from the people or task at hand to image myself as a smiling, confident nonsmoker. Fortunately, I also had a Higher Power and a Twelve Step program for strength. I was soon to discover, however, that there wasn’t great support from many of my friends and acquaintances in school, at work, or at my meetings. But the strength to continue on was sustained. And with each passing day, I more firmly filled the body and the shoes of my nonsmoking self.

I detected a healthy ego response, too. It exhilarated me that I had reclaimed some personal power over my identity. I had chosen a new posture toward life; I had chosen to quit killing myself a puff at a time. The natural deduction was that I was learning to love myself—a first step to loving someone else. When the old Karen tugged at me to return to the old ways—and she did, frequently at first, but with lessening frequency as time elapsed—the new me was able to stand my ground. I was a nonsmoker and so proud of it. I was free to sit where I wanted in restaurants. My hair and clothes no longer reeked of tobacco. My apartment didn’t smell like a crowded bar any longer. And after washing my car and apartment windows, I was treated to a new brightness wherever I looked. With disgust, I wiped away the yellow nicotine stains from the glass protecting the many pictures hung throughout my apartment, and my commitment to my nonsmoking life was strengthened.

Who would have thought back in 1955 that this choice would capture me in 1976? I thought smoking was sexy then. I remember all too well riding down 9th Street with Barbara in her mother’s white two-door Chevy. Barbara needed both hands to steer and shift the car, so the cigarette dangled from her lips. I took one from the red-and-white box-top pack and waited for the car’s cigarette lighter to pop out. My ears buzzed with the first deep draw and my head felt light. But we giggled, feeling so smart and sophisticated. My first cigarette was at a slumber party in ninth grade. But that was just girl stuff and no inhaling. This was different. This was the real thing. We had a car, a half tank of gas, and a full pack of Marlboros between us on the seat, and the evening was young.

It was understood in my family that I’d be a smoker. They were all smokers: my parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, even my two older sisters. My dad requested that I not smoke until the age of eighteen, so I dutifully lied about it and hid my smoking; then, on my eighteenth birthday, I was given a carton of cigarettes as a present. It was my passage to adulthood.

And here I was twenty-one years later, saying, Wait a minute, I want to make a new choice; I want to have a new identity. And so close on the heels of my turn to A.A., too. A fortunate, life-giving choice it was. The rewards have been many. I wish I could say Rita remained a nonsmoker as well. But after a few months, she returned to smoking. She was there for me during my trying times, though, and the phone lines between our homes buzzed with affirmations, cries for help, and prayers.

With confidence and full certainty, readers, I can assure you that my life as a nonsmoker is rewarding. There is no doubt that I’m healthier. My energy level is higher. I accomplish more daily because I’m not taking the accustomed cigarette breaks of years past. I play better racquetball and tennis. Hurrying up steps doesn’t wind me. My hair, breath, clothes, and home no longer smell like a barroom floor. My teeth no longer have brown stains. My fingertips are a healthy pink. And I haven’t lost my desire or ability to write. How certain I was that writing and cigarettes were tightly entwined. My fear was great that nonsmoking Karen would also be nonwriting Karen. However, I have four books under my belt as proof that whatever wisdom I’ve been blessed with to share, it didn’t come from cigarettes.

What follows next are stories of other recovering smokers. There is so much each of us can gain from helping and being helped by one who has gone before. Please read on—for the strength, the hope, and the courage to quit. Another benefit of the stories is the realization that’s sure to come to you that we’re all so very much alike, even though the details of our lives may differ. Giving up nicotine is a major decision. It was for each of us. but it’s one worth making. Together we can accomplish the task.

IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED

Mary’s Story

Mary, age thirty-three and married, is completing an MA in adult education while working as a staff trainer in a Fortune 500 company. Mary loves reading, skiing, working out, and cats; she’s great at writing and making others laugh.

I remember so vividly when I started smoking. I have blurred memories about lots of my life, but my smoking history stands out very clearly. I was in sixth grade when a lot of my friends started smoking. At the beach, my best friend and I decided we weren’t going to smoke. We thought it was really slutty, and we were not going to be sluts.

Next thing I remember is three years later and we’re in my friend Terri’s basement. I’m a freshman in high school. I’d actually made it through seventh and eighth grade with no desire to smoke and thought it looked stupid. I hated to see girls on the street smoking. So here we are sitting around Terri’s piano; we have a pack of Old Golds, and we’re learning to smoke. Her parents are out of town, and we’re highly motivated to learn. I don’t know what changed in those three years other than I began to identify myself more with grown-ups. Smoking took on more glamour. It was no longer street tough. By now all the girls I knew at school who were older smoked. It became for me a rite of passage. We all got very sick that first time on the pack of Old Golds, but we sort of knew that queasiness was part of the process and that we’d soon get over it.

I have some other early memories related to smoking. My friend Terri lived three houses away from me, and we used to walk back and forth between our houses. One school night in late fall, we were outside in the back alley, and four or five of us were smoking. We were still really new at it, and it was a very conscious act. After that, I was a smoker and wanted to be a smoker. All but one of my sisters smoked too, as did all of my friends at school. That first year I lost fifteen pounds. From then on, smoking was a very deliberate way of controlling my weight. I didn’t sit around and think, gee, if I smoke, I won’t get fat. But somehow I knew that I had replaced a lot of my eating behavior with cigarettes. I