Why I decided to quit vaping for my mental health

Topics mentioned: vaping and mental health, addiction, anxiety, friends, loneliness

About: Vaping helped Viv feel connected to others, but took a toll on her mental health. She shares tips for anyone feeling stuck and struggling with addiction.

I started vaping to feel more connected to others in a very lonely period of my life. Vaping became a way to socialise and connect with others - it was the main pillar of my social life for a very long time. It took me a year and a lot of self-reflection to realise the truth about why I started, but this was essential in helping me pave a path that would lead me to quit vaping.

I never really worried about the impact on my health because I thought I had it under control. It wasn’t until I started to experience firsthand the health effects of vaping that the anxiety around my health got worse. I was stuck in a constant cycle of battling between my addiction to nicotine and my anxiety about my health. I felt so stuck in a prison of my own creation. It’s hard to ask for help when you feel like you’re the reason for the problem.

My experience with quitting has been going on for quite some time, however I believe that I have some valuable advice that might help you if you’re trying to quit vaping.

Voicing it helps to keep you more accountable. If you often vape with friends, talk to them about it too. Ask them to not give you their vape and if you feel tempted to vape, tell your friends to remind you of your promise to quit. It helps to have that extra support and accountability. You might even inspire your friends to try quitting too, so you can support each other.

I had several reasons why I wanted to quit: money, mental health, physical health and my family. I was truly shocked when I calculated a rough estimate of how much money I was spending on vapes. This was a major factor in my journey to quit. As well as that, I worried about how my actions would impact my younger siblings. I feared I may influence them negatively with this unhealthy behaviour and they’d start vaping too.

If you can track down the cause, it gets easier to quit. At first, I didn’t want to quit because I believed that vaping was my only connection to other people and my friends. Realising this helped me to face these worries and disprove them. There are lots of reasons why I connect with others and why I have friendships. This helped me to quit without the fear of losing anyone.

Just remember, quitting is never easy, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Take it one day at a time.