I see it more as a midlife “opportunity”
I see it more as a midlife “opportunity”
By Asher Perlman
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Hey, that's me. More or less.
I have been living paycheck to paycheck for about two decades but things changed during the pandemic. I got a substantial raise, stopped smoking, and kept the same micro apartment in a high rise for years. I also live alone, refuse to pay for a car, and don't have any children.
So I was able to put some money aside in the last years and now, I take extended vacations (I took 8 weeks this year), I travel, and treat myself with what I want.
My sister wonders how I can afford to take that much time off work to go to different countries and think that I just recently found interest in traveling but really, it's just because I can afford it now.
Not smoking will save you a lot of money!
I thought so too, then I discovered lego
With enough of them, you can build your own house, though. You'd be stupid not to buy as many as possible. That's just good, common-sense investing.
I switched brands at the beginning of the week. It's going to save me $1300 a year. Now imagine if I quit... Nah.
I think vaping is a good path to get around nicotine cravings.
It's not the nicotine. I swear. I can vape 0% nicotine and it's the same as nicotine vapes. It gives me about a quarter of the comfort and anxiety reduction of a cigarette. Addiction to cigarettes is about the ritual and the motions of smoking. Nicotine is overplayed.
People say vaping doesn't hit as much as cigs (even with nicotine), so they do half and half and wean down until vaping is enough. So with respect to nicotine it's the long term biological addiction.
I don't think nicotine is overplayed, I think that is a sliding scale on how it affects you.
To be fair, I feel exactly like you. I quit smoking a couple of years ago. It was never the nicotine for me. It was the breaks, the ritual, and something to do with my hands. The more anxiety I felt, the more ritual I'd use. So if I just wanted a break I'd light up and smoke. But if shit went down I'd light up with a match and be very deliberate with my inhaling and breathing.
I still miss it. I wish I had something half as calming to replace it. But I still think a lot of folks have a serious issue with physical addiction to nicotine.
I can imagine.
You should too. You can do it, I believe in you.
Thanks buddy. I have quit twice, once for over a year. Both times by using vapes. Then shit goes to hell in my life and I pick it back up.
I hear that. It's insidious how it whispers back at you when shit hits the fan, even if you haven't thought about it in months.
That is great to hear! Good job on quitting smoking and building up some money!
I had a classmate who stopped smoking. He said he took the first chunk of savings and spent it on a fancy stereo, so it would constantly remind him how much smoking cost.