My Quit

[markr]

Day 259

Alright thing are starting to get crazy now. Christmas is closing in fast and time is running out for shopping. I know this weekend will be a doozy we have Christmas on Saturday and Sunday and need to travel. There is nothing relaxing about the holidays. My grandma lost her battle with cancer 2 years ago Christmas was her favorite time of year. She could always make sense of the chaos as long as everything went her way :D Anyhow I have been feeling down the past couple days. Today I stumbled across a website that had the Christmas Guest by Grandpa Jones on it. This was always one of my favorite things to hear. It reminds us no matter how disappointed we are things may not always be as we see them. It gave me a big boost today so I thought I would share it with you.
Here is the link to the site enjoy the story if you have never heard it. Play it again if you have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iyYix9umek

Merry Christmas and keep your quit.

[markr]

Day 255


More ramblings Thanksgiving is past now and the Christmas shopping season is in full swing and my quit has never been better. This Thanksgiving was full of great joy this year. The family comes to my house and the garage becomes a food court for a day. Everyone was in great sprits and this was a first for me no dip. That is the first Thanksgiving in over 35 yrs with no chew. I cook the turkey sometimes I smoke it and sometimes I fry it this year it was fried dip has always been part of that tradition. Did I miss it? No. After the big meal dip was always part of that too. We go out and shoot on my range did I miss the dip? No. We sat around telling stories about events from the past year and I told about my daughters hunt and my nephew asked what I was digging for in my pocket. Damn I went for that can again. I did not realize that I was doing it, I had no craving just a freaking reaction.

Since that time I have asked a few of my friends and my family to let me know if they catch me digging in my pocket.  It appears that I “go for the can” when I am real happy or excited about something. This is a habit I may never break.  I noticed for the first time since I quit that UST dropped the price of Skoal. My wife asked why I was looking at the cans and I said I was just checking the price nothing more.

Last night I saw a young kid that reminded me of myself when I was his age. He was maybe 17 he had a monster dip in and was trying to get someone to buy him some dip. I over heard him ask a couple people that he knew and one agreed. I went on about my shopping and on my way out the boy was there with a couple buddies. I donÂ’t know what got into me but I stopped and told him he should give up the chew. He looked at me like I was crazy. I told him I started when I was 8 and it took me almost 40 yrs to quit. A few days ago I printed the Kerns story out and put it in my wallet along with the caving contract. I wrote down the website and gave them the 2 pieces of paper. I asked that they read it before they throw it out. If you are reading this and are the one I talked to the other night PM me I will give you my number and back you up. I was just like you when I was your age a farm kid that liked to work on trucks and play hard. DonÂ’t wait 40 yrs to quit.

I guess quitting with all of you makes a bond a brotherhood if you will that makes you reach out to others to offer help. I would have never approached that young man even 100 days ago. I just think being free from the addition is great. I really hope the young man will contact me. I am sorry for the rambling but it is part of my closure with the habit I had for almost 40 years. From day 1 of my quit I have had a new day every day. I don't remember not dipping so every day is one more in the books for me.

Stay Quit!!!

It's called "Paying it Forward" Mark!!!! And it feels awesome!!!!! :) I enjoyed your story about Thanksgiving! It was a year ago last Thanksgiving that I was on the fence about whether I should quit, could I really quit, etc.... I was literally scared to death to part with my copenhagen! This Thanksgiving was great because I was celebrating a year quit and I didn't have to worry about spilling my spit cup in my inlaws house!

A year ago I could not have imagined talking to a stranger about quitting, now it seems to come natural! A year ago I don't think I felt worthy enough to talk to someone else about their quit, because honestly, I still wasn't sure if mine was for real or not! I don't know of anyone who I have talked to that has actually joined QSX but hopefully it has planted a thought in their mind and they will eventually act on it!

I guess as You gain more confidence in your self you start to project the image that I did this you can too.

Still it is one thing to hide behind a keyboard and quite another to walk up to someone at Wal-Mart!

110 days to 1 year and believe me I am looking forward to that day as much as the train coming to get me at 100 days :D :D
Thanks for your support Curt!!!

[ScooterScum]

Day 255


More ramblings Thanksgiving is past now and the Christmas shopping season is in full swing and my quit has never been better. This Thanksgiving was full of great joy this year. The family comes to my house and the garage becomes a food court for a day. Everyone was in great sprits and this was a first for me no dip. That is the first Thanksgiving in over 35 yrs with no chew. I cook the turkey sometimes I smoke it and sometimes I fry it this year it was fried dip has always been part of that tradition. Did I miss it? No. After the big meal dip was always part of that too. We go out and shoot on my range did I miss the dip? No. We sat around telling stories about events from the past year and I told about my daughters hunt and my nephew asked what I was digging for in my pocket. Damn I went for that can again. I did not realize that I was doing it, I had no craving just a freaking reaction.

Since that time I have asked a few of my friends and my family to let me know if they catch me digging in my pocket.  It appears that I “go for the can” when I am real happy or excited about something. This is a habit I may never break.  I noticed for the first time since I quit that UST dropped the price of Skoal. My wife asked why I was looking at the cans and I said I was just checking the price nothing more.

Last night I saw a young kid that reminded me of myself when I was his age. He was maybe 17 he had a monster dip in and was trying to get someone to buy him some dip. I over heard him ask a couple people that he knew and one agreed. I went on about my shopping and on my way out the boy was there with a couple buddies. I donÂ’t know what got into me but I stopped and told him he should give up the chew. He looked at me like I was crazy. I told him I started when I was 8 and it took me almost 40 yrs to quit. A few days ago I printed the Kerns story out and put it in my wallet along with the caving contract. I wrote down the website and gave them the 2 pieces of paper. I asked that they read it before they throw it out. If you are reading this and are the one I talked to the other night PM me I will give you my number and back you up. I was just like you when I was your age a farm kid that liked to work on trucks and play hard. DonÂ’t wait 40 yrs to quit.

I guess quitting with all of you makes a bond a brotherhood if you will that makes you reach out to others to offer help. I would have never approached that young man even 100 days ago. I just think being free from the addition is great. I really hope the young man will contact me. I am sorry for the rambling but it is part of my closure with the habit I had for almost 40 years. From day 1 of my quit I have had a new day every day. I don't remember not dipping so every day is one more in the books for me.

Stay Quit!!!

It's called "Paying it Forward" Mark!!!! And it feels awesome!!!!! :) I enjoyed your story about Thanksgiving! It was a year ago last Thanksgiving that I was on the fence about whether I should quit, could I really quit, etc.... I was literally scared to death to part with my copenhagen! This Thanksgiving was great because I was celebrating a year quit and I didn't have to worry about spilling my spit cup in my inlaws house!

A year ago I could not have imagined talking to a stranger about quitting, now it seems to come natural! A year ago I don't think I felt worthy enough to talk to someone else about their quit, because honestly, I still wasn't sure if mine was for real or not! I don't know of anyone who I have talked to that has actually joined QSX but hopefully it has planted a thought in their mind and they will eventually act on it!

[markr]

Day 255


More ramblings Thanksgiving is past now and the Christmas shopping season is in full swing and my quit has never been better. This Thanksgiving was full of great joy this year. The family comes to my house and the garage becomes a food court for a day. Everyone was in great sprits and this was a first for me no dip. That is the first Thanksgiving in over 35 yrs with no chew. I cook the turkey sometimes I smoke it and sometimes I fry it this year it was fried dip has always been part of that tradition. Did I miss it? No. After the big meal dip was always part of that too. We go out and shoot on my range did I miss the dip? No. We sat around telling stories about events from the past year and I told about my daughters hunt and my nephew asked what I was digging for in my pocket. Damn I went for that can again. I did not realize that I was doing it, I had no craving just a freaking reaction.

Since that time I have asked a few of my friends and my family to let me know if they catch me digging in my pocket. It appears that I “go for the can” when I am real happy or excited about something. This is a habit I may never break. I noticed for the first time since I quit that UST dropped the price of Skoal. My wife asked why I was looking at the cans and I said I was just checking the price nothing more.

Last night I saw a young kid that reminded me of myself when I was his age. He was maybe 17 he had a monster dip in and was trying to get someone to buy him some dip. I over heard him ask a couple people that he knew and one agreed. I went on about my shopping and on my way out the boy was there with a couple buddies. I donÂ’t know what got into me but I stopped and told him he should give up the chew. He looked at me like I was crazy. I told him I started when I was 8 and it took me almost 40 yrs to quit. A few days ago I printed the Kerns story out and put it in my wallet along with the caving contract. I wrote down the website and gave them the 2 pieces of paper. I asked that they read it before they throw it out. If you are reading this and are the one I talked to the other night PM me I will give you my number and back you up. I was just like you when I was your age a farm kid that liked to work on trucks and play hard. DonÂ’t wait 40 yrs to quit.

I guess quitting with all of you makes a bond a brotherhood if you will that makes you reach out to others to offer help. I would have never approached that young man even 100 days ago. I just think being free from the addition is great. I really hope the young man will contact me. I am sorry for the rambling but it is part of my closure with the habit I had for almost 40 years. From day 1 of my quit I have had a new day every day. I don't remember not dipping so every day is one more in the books for me.

Stay Quit!!!

[Aug]

Day 237

I have not been real close to the site for a couple weeks now. I have been hunting hard with my daughter and she is playing AAU Basketball also so basically I am at work in the tree stand at ball practice / game or in bed. I have not had a crave for some time now and I feel confident in my quit at this point. Friday I got home from work my daughter said lets go to the woods. we change clothes and went up in the woods. We live in the woods where we hunt. We are seated in our stands by 4:15 5 rolls around no deer. 5:30 I see a nice buck walking towards my daughters stand I can see her and the deer but she is looking the other way. The buck stops and looks at her stand she is looking through the binoculars about 90 degrees from where the deer is standing. He must not have made her out because he continued down the lane he is now in front of her. Dad is going nuts watching this from 75 yrd away. All at once she spots the buck she make some quick moves and the Buck picked up on them and looks right at her. I am thinking game over and decide to try to use a grunt call. I hit the call and the buck looked at me allowing her to get in position to make her shot. She shot the buck dropped in its tracks. I can not express how proud I am of her she is 14 yrs old and this is her 4th deer. But the first with dad out of the stand. The first thing I did was call her on the radio and tell her great job, the next thing I did was reach in my pocket for the can that has not been there for over 200 days. It is amazing that I still reach for the can there was no crave just a reflex to grab the can.
Below are the deer pics if you want to see them. The antlers scored 125 green and she is 14.

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/ ... 2009-3.jpg
http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/ ... 2009-2.jpg

I am so proud of her and both of my girls ask me at least once a week " What day you on today Dad" I could never face them and tell them I failed them and was on day 1 or get caught with a dip. I am still fighting my weight I have always been heavy but I loose a few and gain them back. I have decided to give up until at least after Thanksgiving. It has been awhile since I have wrote here so I thought I would leave a note. This has been a sounding board and sometimes just posting what happed can make the difference.

With the stress of the Holidays upon us it could be easy to just let your guard down. We are all addicts just remember that let your guard down and the addiction will seize the opportunity.

Stay Quit and happy holidays.

4th deer! You got a real killer on your hands dad! Big congrats to her! Nice job teaching the ways!

[Gump]

Day 237

I have not been real close to the site for a couple weeks now. I have been hunting hard with my daughter and she is playing AAU Basketball also so basically I am at work in the tree stand at ball practice / game or in bed. I have not had a crave for some time now and I feel confident in my quit at this point. Friday I got home from work my daughter said lets go to the woods. we change clothes and went up in the woods. We live in the woods where we hunt. We are seated in our stands by 4:15 5 rolls around no deer. 5:30 I see a nice buck walking towards my daughters stand I can see her and the deer but she is looking the other way. The buck stops and looks at her stand she is looking through the binoculars about 90 degrees from where the deer is standing. He must not have made her out because he continued down the lane he is now in front of her. Dad is going nuts watching this from 75 yrd away. All at once she spots the buck she make some quick moves and the Buck picked up on them and looks right at her. I am thinking game over and decide to try to use a grunt call. I hit the call and the buck looked at me allowing her to get in position to make her shot. She shot the buck dropped in its tracks. I can not express how proud I am of her she is 14 yrs old and this is her 4th deer. But the first with dad out of the stand. The first thing I did was call her on the radio and tell her great job, the next thing I did was reach in my pocket for the can that has not been there for over 200 days. It is amazing that I still reach for the can there was no crave just a reflex to grab the can.
Below are the deer pics if you want to see them. The antlers scored 125 green and she is 14.

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/ ... 2009-3.jpg
http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/ ... 2009-2.jpg

I am so proud of her and both of my girls ask me at least once a week " What day you on today Dad" I could never face them and tell them I failed them and was on day 1 or get caught with a dip. I am still fighting my weight I have always been heavy but I loose a few and gain them back. I have decided to give up until at least after Thanksgiving. It has been awhile since I have wrote here so I thought I would leave a note. This has been a sounding board and sometimes just posting what happed can make the difference.

With the stress of the Holidays upon us it could be easy to just let your guard down. We are all addicts just remember that let your guard down and the addiction will seize the opportunity.

Stay Quit and happy holidays.

Very good stuff, Markr! That's a great buck she brought in, and a great story. Thanks man.

[Ready]

Day 237

I have not been real close to the site for a couple weeks now. I have been hunting hard with my daughter and she is playing AAU Basketball also so basically I am at work in the tree stand at ball practice / game or in bed. I have not had a crave for some time now and I feel confident in my quit at this point. Friday I got home from work my daughter said lets go to the woods. we change clothes and went up in the woods. We live in the woods where we hunt. We are seated in our stands by 4:15 5 rolls around no deer. 5:30 I see a nice buck walking towards my daughters stand I can see her and the deer but she is looking the other way. The buck stops and looks at her stand she is looking through the binoculars about 90 degrees from where the deer is standing. He must not have made her out because he continued down the lane he is now in front of her. Dad is going nuts watching this from 75 yrd away. All at once she spots the buck she make some quick moves and the Buck picked up on them and looks right at her. I am thinking game over and decide to try to use a grunt call. I hit the call and the buck looked at me allowing her to get in position to make her shot. She shot the buck dropped in its tracks. I can not express how proud I am of her she is 14 yrs old and this is her 4th deer. But the first with dad out of the stand. The first thing I did was call her on the radio and tell her great job, the next thing I did was reach in my pocket for the can that has not been there for over 200 days. It is amazing that I still reach for the can there was no crave just a reflex to grab the can.
Below are the deer pics if you want to see them. The antlers scored 125 green and she is 14.

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/ ... 2009-3.jpg
http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/ ... 2009-2.jpg

I am so proud of her and both of my girls ask me at least once a week " What day you on today Dad" I could never face them and tell them I failed them and was on day 1 or get caught with a dip. I am still fighting my weight I have always been heavy but I loose a few and gain them back. I have decided to give up until at least after Thanksgiving. It has been awhile since I have wrote here so I thought I would leave a note. This has been a sounding board and sometimes just posting what happed can make the difference.

With the stress of the Holidays upon us it could be easy to just let your guard down. We are all addicts just remember that let your guard down and the addiction will seize the opportunity.

Stay Quit and happy holidays.

Life is good friend. Thanks for posting this.

[markr]

Day 237

I have not been real close to the site for a couple weeks now. I have been hunting hard with my daughter and she is playing AAU Basketball also so basically I am at work in the tree stand at ball practice / game or in bed. I have not had a crave for some time now and I feel confident in my quit at this point. Friday I got home from work my daughter said lets go to the woods. we change clothes and went up in the woods. We live in the woods where we hunt. We are seated in our stands by 4:15 5 rolls around no deer. 5:30 I see a nice buck walking towards my daughters stand I can see her and the deer but she is looking the other way. The buck stops and looks at her stand she is looking through the binoculars about 90 degrees from where the deer is standing. He must not have made her out because he continued down the lane he is now in front of her. Dad is going nuts watching this from 75 yrd away. All at once she spots the buck she make some quick moves and the Buck picked up on them and looks right at her. I am thinking game over and decide to try to use a grunt call. I hit the call and the buck looked at me allowing her to get in position to make her shot. She shot the buck dropped in its tracks. I can not express how proud I am of her she is 14 yrs old and this is her 4th deer. But the first with dad out of the stand. The first thing I did was call her on the radio and tell her great job, the next thing I did was reach in my pocket for the can that has not been there for over 200 days. It is amazing that I still reach for the can there was no crave just a reflex to grab the can.
Below are the deer pics if you want to see them. The antlers scored 125 green and she is 14.

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/ ... 2009-3.jpg
http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt4/ ... 2009-2.jpg

I am so proud of her and both of my girls ask me at least once a week " What day you on today Dad" I could never face them and tell them I failed them and was on day 1 or get caught with a dip. I am still fighting my weight I have always been heavy but I loose a few and gain them back. I have decided to give up until at least after Thanksgiving. It has been awhile since I have wrote here so I thought I would leave a note. This has been a sounding board and sometimes just posting what happed can make the difference.

With the stress of the Holidays upon us it could be easy to just let your guard down. We are all addicts just remember that let your guard down and the addiction will seize the opportunity.

Stay Quit and happy holidays.

[justkeepdancing]

'party'

200 DAYS! I should have known. You had just reached 100 days on the day we met. In chat, I think?

This is so awesome! On to the next step already... together reaching 300, and 200. :)

It is awesome that I am one of the people you randomly picked to support. And I thought I wasn't a lucky person. Never can say that again.

[LaQuitter]

Well I made the second floor. 200 days without Skoal that in its self is a miracle for me! I have received allot of support here over the past 200 days. I have seen people start then just disappear only to resurface on day 1 again. I have had quit brothers fight for there quit. Some of you are still struggling. For the past 50 or 60 days my quit has been uneventful, no big craves nothing. I did loose a family friend some of you followed the JD Taylor story he is at peace now a 13 year old kid that was tough as nails and a angel all at the same time. That got me thinking that JD turned our town around one person can make a difference no matter how small.
So here is what I would like for you to do. If you are not already, mentor someone here. Just pick a quitter behind you make contact with them and support them till they hit the HOF. It will help you and it will help them. Post support for them and drop them an PM every now and then. What is the worst that can happen you get a new friend out of the deal?

So make the difference today support a quitter!

Mark, congrats on reaching the 2nd floor!

I completely agree with you. Mentoring a new quitter is a great way to keep yourself engaged. I also find that investing yourself in a quit(s) other than your own also strengthens your quit......you can't fail if someone is depending on you. Paying it forward in this manner is the least we can do.

Good stuff Mark.

[markr]

Well I made the second floor. 200 days without Skoal that in its self is a miracle for me! I have received allot of support here over the past 200 days. I have seen people start then just disappear only to resurface on day 1 again. I have had quit brothers fight for there quit. Some of you are still struggling. For the past 50 or 60 days my quit has been uneventful, no big craves nothing. I did loose a family friend some of you followed the JD Taylor story he is at peace now a 13 year old kid that was tough as nails and a angel all at the same time. That got me thinking that JD turned our town around one person can make a difference no matter how small.
So here is what I would like for you to do. If you are not already, mentor someone here. Just pick a quitter behind you make contact with them and support them till they hit the HOF. It will help you and it will help them. Post support for them and drop them an PM every now and then. What is the worst that can happen you get a new friend out of the deal?

So make the difference today support a quitter!

[markr]

Well I made the second floor. 200 days without Skoal that in its self is a miracle for me! I have received allot of support here over the past 200 days. I have seen people start then just disappear only to resurface on day 1 again. I have had quit brothers fight for there quit. Some of you are still struggling. For the past 50 or 60 days my quit has been uneventful, no big craves nothing. I did loose a family friend some of you followed the JD Taylor story he is at peace now a 13 year old kid that was tough as nails and a angel all at the same time. That got me thinking that JD turned our town around one person can make a difference no matter how small.
So here is what I would like for you to do. If you are not already mentor someone here. Just pick a quitter behind you make contact and support them. It will help you and it will help them. Post support for them and drop them an PM every now and then. What is the worst that can happen you get a new friend out of the deal?

[markr]

Tough day yesterday my friend lost his son to cancer after a long battle. JD was 13 yrs old. He was friends with my daughter and loved the outdoors 4 wheelers whatever he could do outside. There is a couple benefits scheduled for today in our town and they were scheduled before he went into the hospital for the last time. JD pulled this community together to help him. How much power can a kid have? It seems in his case allot yesterday was were blue for JD day it was unbelievable how many blue shirts that I saw. I will leave a link in my signature to his blog for awhile for anyone that would like to visit.

Godspeed JD you are in a pain free place now.


Markr-186 My quit today is dedicated to JD Taylor and his family. JD lost his battle with cancer yesterday and will be missed by all that he had touched. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jdtay ... ogspot.com

[Trapper]

Well said, comrade. And you know that I agree completely. My struggles are documented.

But goddamn it, I will make it through today, and do it again tomorrow. Someday, I'm going to feel truly good, all the time.

Dean,

For what its worth, i struggled with the funk, the fog , the craves, clear up to the 2nd floor. My hof speech was dedicated to it does get better an it does. I still have craves on a daily basis but they are so managable. at 240 it like flickin a misquito off your arm no big deal.
Hang in bro were here for ya

Trap

[DeanTheCoot]

Well said, comrade. And you know that I agree completely. My struggles are documented.

But goddamn it, I will make it through today, and do it again tomorrow. Someday, I'm going to feel truly good, all the time.