I'm just like you. I started dipping in my teens as part of a group of kids that were old enough to do what we wanted to. We were so cool, dipping in school, at sporting events, we were above the law and too sly to get caught.
This mindset continued into college and again it was cool to do it. All through my 20's I could go for a few days without, sometimes even for a few weeks. I always said I could quit anytime and for some reason actaully believed it.
Now moving into my 30's, I still told myself I could quit anytime. I told myself that same thing every time I needed to sneak out of a family function and have a dip. I told myself that same thing every time I just had to run to town at night to buy a can. I told myself that same thing every time my 5 yr old son asked me what I was sucking on. I told myself that same thing when my son wanted to use his water bottle as a spitter while on a road trip.
I told myself that same thing....until one day I matured enough to ask myself what good can come from a lifetime of dipping? That answer is simple: deformed face and/ or death.
I went through a few weeks of struggling with the fact that I must quit. Then I found KTC and spent 2 days reading everything on the site. Finally I made my way to the Jenny and Tom Kern story
http://www.killthecan.org/facts/jennykern.aspI read this tradgic story and could put myself in their exact position. I was a solid man, father of 2 young kids, husband to the greatest woman, everything they had in their life I had in mine. At that point I realized that I could not quit anytime, but I had to quit now.
After some help from Chewie, I signed up the next day and there I was...quit for the last time. I joined the baddest group of quitters in the September 09 group. Bransc and Bscar started me on the right track and feeling welcome. The whole support based group is what made the difference. Vets like JPCrew, Redtrain14, Yammerhammer, MadXdipper, Franpro, Chewie, and countless others gave me the insight to know it does get better. Fellow Sep. 09 group members like XdipperDave, Jeepster, Volp, Flashman, CFJ all made me realize that me situtation was not any different then any other quitter. My pain was the same but we all deal with it different.
How many times have you said I can quit anytime? You are no different than me, you can't quit anytime, but you must quit now. If you don't, you will die and leave your family to deal with the loss.
Quit today and quit forever.
MDG Welding
