Post in June just now, figured I'd share here too..
We had some folks with some majority shitty weeks in here. I'm hoping the weekend had a bright spot or two, but its “funk” territory for us so its possible the weekend for those with rough weeks sucked a ton too. Just trying to remind myself of two things constantly.
1. Nicotine will not solve our problems. For years and even decades we consciously or subconsciously would grab a can when pissed or disappointed. Did it ever solve our problem? Of course not. When we finished a massive cat turd and removed it, our problem stayed. Nicotine fixes NOTHING. In a sense we were almost cowardly for all those years. Instead of facing our issues or working on the problems, we would dive into a can and try to ignore the world. We are all now learning how to get through life's curveballs and gut punches without the can. And while I'm no where near a vet, I have realized that the majority of caves come with excuses involving problems in our lives. Sure—some are intoxicated camping trips or bachelor parties where it “just happened”. But I would bet that over 50% of caves have some tie back to a problem or issue in our life that we think the can will make better. And it never works. All that ends up happening is a shitty feeling after breaking your word, realizing you’re back on Day 1, and the can did nothing to solve your problem. You wake up the next morning realizing you have to answer the three questions and the pit in your stomach grows when you realize the shit you though the can would help is still there and now must be dealt with while trying to start a new quit. Nicotine can’t make your problems go away.
Bringing me to the second thing IÂ’ve been constantly reminding myself..
2. You will never regret quitting. You will always regret caving. So many of us have attempted a quit and failed. That feeling when you realize you were a loser and screwed up another attempted quit is the worst. Whether you get the feeling 5 minutes after inserting the first lip, or you get it 3 years after you caved—you will always regret that decision to go back to being a slave. However, there also probably is not a single quitter here who hasn’t faced a BAD crave, and somehow beat the nic bitch on the brow as said “no thank you”. The feeling after a bad cave passes and you realize you beat it, you are still on “day _”, same quit group family, another strand of slavery broken.. damn that feels great.
Anyway, those are two pillars of truth that I’ve seen around here a bunch that have really resonated with me. I have tried to drill them into my brain every chance I get. And as we creep closer to the HOF train leaving the station—I felt like sharing.
Digits are a PM away for anyone who doesnÂ’t have them. (Not just June, but any KTC quitter!) Love yÂ’all.
Quit on!