At every step in the process, it looked to those around me that whatever I was using was going to be used forever. I didn’t set any lofty goals
This is absolutely the right approach, even if you were planning to quit from the start (not the case with you, but still). “This is my last ever cigarette” just caused me to delay and delay and delay. The only realistic way to do it for me was one craving at a time (“I’m not smoking for the next hour”), then a day at a time. Handling the hours and days was hard, but once you do that the weeks and months take care of themselves.
Vaping for me was a major misstep. Just caused me to consume more nicotine than when I was smoking.
How do you ever solve a problem if you don’t acknowledge it exists?
I’m not from the US, but live in a country that is a US ally with a lot of military bases. The US election effects us. The fact the DNC is fielding an old age pensioner who should be sitting comfortably in a retirement home complaining about the birds obstructing his view against an equally old fascist is deeply worrying.