Hello everyone. My name is Ron, and I've been going back and forth with dip since i was 17. Im 22, and about to graduate next semester from VCU. I started dipping with my friends on my highschool volleyball team... Which i guess isnt a typical route to dipping. However, nicotene spares no man.
Dipping was no doubt a gateway for me to alcohol. Mostly because i figured "hey, i already dip, may as well drink too." This foolish decision turned out to be one of the worst decisions of my young life, as i quickly got out of control, and ended up suspended from Virginia Tech for drinking within the first two years of being there. Then came a car accident, from which my right wrist is permanently handicapped. All from drinking, and ultimately from the snow-ball effect of my first pinch of grizzly.
I have quit drinking, and i have no problem with it at all. I dont ever crave alcohol, and can be in bars or at parties with no urge to pick up a beer or anything else. For me its not so much a compulsion to start drinking, rather, it is the ability to stop if i start that gives me trouble. Thus, the solution is simple, just dont start.
However, dip is a whole other story. I use it just about anywhere its acceptable. I never drive anywhere without putting in a pinch, and certainly dont use the can without it and my iphone. I use it when im sitting in my room playing guitar, on the computer and especially when im reading for school or doing any sort of school assignment.
I continually come up with ways to rationalize the use of my beloved grizzly wintergreen. When i try and quit, i cant sleep, or crap, so i have to dip. Ive tried nicotine gum, but the method of use for nicotine gum is the same as dip, and of course it has nicotine in it as well, so its just about the same thing. Additionally, when i use nicotine gum i seem to have super bad chest/throat congestion and gunk that i SWEAR is worse relative to dip. So again, dip wins out, and i ride up to the BP and grab a can. The congestion thing of course is still present when i dip, its just not as bad. Also, to me congestion is unacceptable, because i regularly race/ train for triathlons. I had a stint where i used nicotene gum, and over a few weeks my run and bike times went up significantly, because i could seem to breathe enough to keep up with my legs.
It goes without saying that someone who is a triathlete, and a pretty decent one at that (I race in the clydesdale category for men over 200lbs, and rarely place out of the top 3) that im in fairly good shape, and using dip is completely hypocritical, and counterproductive. I was also the founder and president of the VCU tri club last year... further adding to the stupidity of my habit.
I did quit from november-feburary completely cold turkey. However, i had a biochem test one week that i had to cram for, and justified buying a single can to "help" study. I took one pinch, and threw the rest out. Then, the next week it happened again, and this time i was hooked. Thus, ive been using about a can a day since then, and have been trying to quit since, with no luck.
Ive never smoked, other than when i used to drink, and someone would offer me a cigarette. Even then i couldnt inhale even a little bit of smoke without coughing continuously. So i never have, and never will use cigarettes as crutch.
Im going to stop here, since ive already written you guys a novel. Any input and supplemental instruction you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated. If im correct the group i should join will reach 100 days in october. thanks to all who have read my rant!
