A 16-year-old girl, on the top of the parking garage in downtown St. Charles. She sat in a white Jeep, with her friends smoking a nicotine-based substance known as vape. 

This 16-year-old girl was me. 

I started vaping when I was a junior in high school. I regret making the choice to blend with the crowd, looking back on it now. I never really understood why people liked vaping because after a while I became disgusted with it. Burnt pods, burnt coils and burnt juice. I got sick multiple times because of the burning of the coils and pods.

 I had a total of four different devices. My first one was a Box Mod. My second was a Smok Stick V8 Mini, my third was a Smok Novo. While my final one was a black Stick Mod. 

I finally stopped vaping the summer after senior year. Why did I? I saw changes in my overall health such as fatigue, weight loss and loss of appetite.  

How was I able to stop? Over the summer of 2019, I took a trip to Florida to visit my 2 cousins and my aunt for 2 weeks. I had withdrawals and had to chew on straws during the “cold turkey” period.

After I got home, I didn’t feel the need to go back to vaping nicotine. I had already endured the withdrawal process and didn’t want to repeat that again if I resumed.