Below are portions of a PM I sent to one of my brothers today. I'm posting it here, for myself, for posterity. (The PM functionality on this site is not too robust, so I would have lost this PM after sending it.)
I think we need to face this shit head-on, all the time. I think we need to constantly remind ourselves that we are addicts. Why? Because if people like you and me forget that WE CANNOT DO MODERATION, we're gonna cave. It's fucking inevitable. A year from now, we'll just have a dip. We'll think we're cured and that we can have a few dips here and there. And then we'll be back to 2 tins a day. Almost no doubt about it, man.
Now, I think the problem is assigning some absolutely negative connotation to "addict." I believe some of us feel like lowly pieces of shit because we are addicts. I say no.
You'd be a lowly piece of shit ONLY if you didn't try to change your behavior.
It's bad to be an addict if you're still abusing your addictive medium (whether dip, cigarettes, booze, cocaine, glue, food, sex, gambling, TV, church, exercise, anything)
It's bad to be an addict only if your use of that medium is fucking up your life and the lives around you.
It's bad to be an addict if you let that medium control you.
It's GOOD to be an addict if YOU CONTROL that medium. Why? Because you'll always be in a position to compare the life you now lead (nicotine-free, in our case) versus the life you used to lead (slave to nicotine). Invariably, we will be empowered by controlling that very, very, very strong temptation. We will feel like the slavedriver, dig?
Like, don't you feel GOOD ruling this shit? As hard as it still is to go through some days, even at Day 70, isn't it fucking awesome to OWN this fucking addiction and to be fucking nicotine in the ass?
I'm basically just pointing out that I have made it this far because KTC has reminded me that MODERATION IS IMPOSSIBLE. It has reminded me to focus on the quit. It has reminded me to value the quit. It reminds of these things even when I am in the mood to not care at all....when I am in the mood to consider giving up the fight.
We need to stay reminded, man...we really do.