I started smoking at 13 and was a hardened smoker by 16.

I used to tell myself that I’d quit at 18, 21, 25, 30, when cigarettes had reached 5 dollars a pack, etc,  but by my 40s and after numerous quit attempts I was resigned to being a lifelong smoker and probably dying of a smoking related disease.

I wasn’t happy about this but quitting seemed impossible. 

​

A friend handed me a vape to try 10 years ago and from the first puff I knew that this would work and that I’d never need to smoke again.

It was literally that simple.

I instantly knew that vaping addressed the reasons that my quit attempts had failed in the past.

It wasn’t the withdrawals that caused me to fail because I could get through them on willpower alone, it was the ritual, the habit, the living life without the ability to reach for a smoke when only that would relieve the anxiety.

A vape gave me all the things I enjoyed about smoking but without the probable horrible death. 

​

I started off on 18mgs concentration of nicotine and put my pack of cigarettes in a drawer.

I threw those cigarettes out 2 years later untouched.

I am now down to 2mgs nicotine strength and usually don’t even reach for my vape for hours or sometimes days at a time.

I never thought I would reach this point and feel comfortable with my slow path to quitting altogether. 

My health has improved significantly since quitting smoking and I feel like I’m healthier than the average 58 year old, even compared to never smokers. 

What causes the most anxiety now is worrying about the proposed changes to the law and the possibility that this may force me to relapse.

I can’t imagine that 2mg strengths would be available at chemists and not having this easily available would be a disaster for me personally.

Honestly, I feel like older smokers and vapers are being erased from the debate in Australia and this is frustrating.