Well, I've only been looking in this site for about 15 minutes. I told two co-workers today that I was quitting after 21 plus years. Both are "quitters" themselves with about the same time with the can. The first guy was really gracious and understanding about it .. like immediately. Told me to come visit him in his office anytime. The other co-worker sent me the link to this website. (And of course, I checked it out during lunch and it immediately opened to the page with all the cancer pics - thanks dickhead - I spent the last 21 years doing this and purposely managed to NEVER see one of these pics..)
Anyway, like the topic says, I am on day 2. This is my third time trying to quit. Last time was back in 1998 - during my master thesis! I was a little nuts back then, but I figured I would give it a try. Both times I "quit" before, I lasted 7 months - cold turkey. But something about that 7 month time frame brought me back. This time, I decided to be a little more smarter about it and went with the patch. I have to admit, the cravings aren't as bad as I thought they would be (I was up to 2, sometimes 3 cans a day - oh, and on a side note, of the 21 years, only the last 2 were with a can - all the others were Redman - I was up to 3 bags a day before I switched to the can..)
So, I emailed my cousin, who has been dipping as long as I have, and told him, not only did I quit on Monday, but I am starting the P90X exercise thing next week as well. He just finished his third round of the P90X and he looks/feels great. So he was excited about all the changes and he decided - right then and there - to quit with me. About 4 hours later, I got an email from his wife thanking me and offering any/all support for both of us. She said that his daughters (15 and 8) are going to be STOKED to hear about daddy's decision. I've got an 18 month old daughter myself (first baby) and she is.. excuse me.. WAS starting to poke her fingers at my bottom lip all the time... so it was time to quit.
But, I should say, I am not quitting for her, my wife, or even my cousin... for me. There, I said it... and it's not about the possibility of getting cancer (that runs all through my family history) but honestly, I just got sick of it all. Sick of the spitters, sick of getting caught at my desk by my co-workers, sick of knowing that my wife has to look the other way when the bottle comes up to my lips (by the way, the top 100 reasons... I laughed my ass off at that..all too true.).
Anyway, the last hurdle and what actually, honestly got me to say "that's it, no more" as I threw away the last can on Monday..... the cost. Depending on where you go where I live its 4 to 5 bucks a can now. I sat down and figured out that I was spending about 300-400 A FUCKING MONTH on this shit and realized that I was a slave - not to the nicotine, but to the big corporations. I just spent the last 21 years, paying for someone's kids to go to college and now, at 40, I don't have a dime saved up for my kid's college or my retirement. Think about that - I used to NOT put into a 401K or retirement plan because I needed the extra money out of my paycheck to buy dip... WTF was I thinking...
One last thing (I know - long post most won't read all the way through) but this last thing is important and a pretty cool idea... the one co-worker at work (when he realized I was at about a 10 dollar a day habit) said...
"you should still take out that 10 bucks a day from the bank, in cash, and put it in a huge plastic jug, like the water cooler jugs. Then in about 6 months, take it out and see just how much money you have saved and use it for something like a large payment on a credit card, a weekend get away with the wife, or buy something nice for yourself..."
I am getting that plastic jug this weekend... I figured in 6 months - at 10 bucks a day (that's 2 cans) is 1800 bucks!!! Think about it.. put the jar next to your door, so when you come home in the evenings, put 10 bucks in there.. watch it fill up... Hey, maybe there could be a thread in here to post pictures of everyone's jugs, buckets, whatever and show off what you used that money for???
Anyway, sorry for the long post - just excited about the "new" me and more excited knowing there is a place like this that I can "vent" or find help when I need it..(remember the last time I quit in 1998 - the internet was just a baby..)
Take care,
Tony
