I am not one to write speeches. I am a data nerd and I am not the best with words (just ask my wife). I read someone else's speech and they said the reason they wrote one was in case one person read it and decided to start quitting or to stay quit and that resonated with me. I have never really made a difference in someone's life (as far as I know). None of my jobs have been helping the needy or discovering cures to diseases or inspiring today's youth so if by writing a few words can help someone perhaps not get cancer I am going to take my shot.
On November 15th, 2011 there was a zero percent chance that I would still be free from nicotine today. I didn't know about KTC yet and I was going to quit on my own like the other 40 times I had tried to quit. I happened to stumble upon this site the second day of my quit and I balked at it...almost to the point where I made fun of people on this site to my friends. I remembering saying those people don't have the balls to do it themselves. Meanwhile, I was on my 40th try doing it myself and my balls were still fairly small. I read a bunch of posts on the site, introductions, etc and I couldn't believe how much I was like all of the people that I was reading. So I watched the post roll video so I wouldn't fuck it up and feel like a douchebag and I posted roll for the first time. I found myself back at the site on and off the first two weeks, not really committed to the site. That was until Skifreak reached out to me. We got to chatting and I realized this dude was me but living in Kentucky, same age, same hobbies, same aged kids, same everything. That was when it hit me, everyone here is just like me, a fucking addict.
I owe everything to the February Underground, each and every single addict in that group. After mid December I never missed a day of coming into the site and seeing whatever one was bitching, moaning, pissing about. I loved it...loved the drama, loved the passion, love the hatred of nicotine and it got me through the tough times. There still isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about a fat dip...but there isn't a crave that goes by that doesn't get laughed at...I know that I have the strength of 30+ addicts behind me and I will not betray their trust. Without KTC I would still be on the path to cancer and I am forever grateful for everyone involved with this site.
My name is Chris, I am a nicotine addict. I am quit today. I will be quit tomorrow and I will promise my fellow addicts every day that I will remain that way.
