I'm currently a 21 year old in a fraternity at my college. Naturally, a solid majority of my fraternity brothers dip. My first chew was around February of 2017, and I hated it. From February to mid August, I probably put in 5 chews, and I hated the feeling every time.
In late August, our university student government had a 3 day overnight retreat. My two bestfriends are heavy smokeless tobacco users, and they both were on the trip as well. We claimed our cabin and instantly put in chews, and chewed throughout the trip. For whatever reason, I started to enjoy the feeling of having a chaw in.
That trip was the start of my addiction. Once we returned home, I just kept going. Being a high stress, high anxiety individual, smokeless tobacco was how I relaxed. Whenever I got done at the gym, I'd drink my protein and throw in some pouches. Fraternity / student government meetings? Chew. Sitting on my ass watching netflix? Chew. Studying? Chew. The months of September / October I was at a can a day with no signs of stopping.
I have an extremely addictive personality. Addiction runs in my family. I got to a point early in November where I realized I need to stop now. I started using nicotine pouches, and, if anything, those made my nicotine addiction worse. The past month I've slowed down with my nicotine / tobacco use, but I still continued. Over Thanksgiving break, my mom found out I chewed. She wasn't mad, she was extremely disappointed. That disappointment from the person I love most has served as my motivation to quit. I put a chew in last night, felt instant guilt, and realized it was now or never.
I am very excited to become tobacco and nicotine free. I realize its an extremely difficult process, and I am prepared for the worse. I feel lucky and blessed to have come across this website, and I'm excited to not only work on my addiction, but be present to support others.
Last night I ordered Smokey Mountain tobacco / nicotine free snuff and Grinds coffee grounds, and I'm pumped. I'm a little confused on the forum style and the roll posts, so please be patient with me. I'm committed to this website and being tobacco / nicotine free!