Forever Ever

[Aquaman43]

January 12, 2023, Day 1017. Almost back to where I was. I don't remember exactly how long I was quit when I decided to go back to the can. None of the thoughts I had then have made their way to my mind. I've gone from wondering what it's like to be someone that doesn't dip to being someone that doesn't dip. I don't have any cravings. That doesn't mean the nic bitch doesn't sneak up on me every once in a while, but I don't even acknowledge her any longer. You have to change your focus from what used to be to what can be. That's where I went wrong last time, romanticizing the can. Always there in the back of my head was that thought that this doesn't have to be forever. Now I just think about how good it is to be free forever. One day at a time, of course.

[Keith0617]

March 17, 2008. That's the first time I posted Day 805. I wish I knew what was going through my head then. I look at some of those old posts now and then just to see if it reminds me. I know I struggled. The physical cravings were long gone by then, but I know I kept romanticizing the bitch. On the outside I was strong, on the inside, not so much. If someone had told me that in a little less than 300 days I would cave, I probably wouldn't have batted an eye. I still didn't believe in forever ever then. I definitely remember holding on to some fantasy that I would be able to return to the can and make everything ok.

I have no such thoughts now. I'm at peace. I still chew on plastic straws from time-to-time, but even that is less frequent. I know we do one day at a time here, but I'm comfortable with forever ever. It kind of makes me happy. To stop romanticizing the bitch you need to fall in love with something else. I fell in love with all the little things that not dipping offers. Kissing my wife whenever I want. Not seeing my granddaughter's face scrunch up when I would spit in a bottle. And the big thing...freedom. I can't even remember the last time I tapped my back pocket when leaving the house to make sure my can was there. Yeah, freedom is worth forever ever.

Congrats @Aquaman43 . Proud to quit with you.

[Aquaman43]

March 17, 2008. That's the first time I posted Day 805. I wish I knew what was going through my head then. I look at some of those old posts now and then just to see if it reminds me. I know I struggled. The physical cravings were long gone by then, but I know I kept romanticizing the bitch. On the outside I was strong, on the inside, not so much. If someone had told me that in a little less than 300 days I would cave, I probably wouldn't have batted an eye. I still didn't believe in forever ever then. I definitely remember holding on to some fantasy that I would be able to return to the can and make everything ok.

I have no such thoughts now. I'm at peace. I still chew on plastic straws from time-to-time, but even that is less frequent. I know we do one day at a time here, but I'm comfortable with forever ever. It kind of makes me happy. To stop romanticizing the bitch you need to fall in love with something else. I fell in love with all the little things that not dipping offers. Kissing my wife whenever I want. Not seeing my granddaughter's face scrunch up when I would spit in a bottle. And the big thing...freedom. I can't even remember the last time I tapped my back pocket when leaving the house to make sure my can was there. Yeah, freedom is worth forever ever.

[Aquaman43]

Holy shit! You know it's Monday when you screw a thread up this bad. That's what happens when you get used to Discord and forget how to Forum.

[Aquaman43]

I was going to post at one year, but I wanted to wait a bit to see how I felt later on. The one year funk was total hell. By far the worst I've been hit in my quit. I laid it out there and had some great support, people reminding me to not romanticize the past.
Things are back to normal now. It took a few days after the quitterversary to calm down. While I was going through the fun, one of the guys in May 22 asked for some strategy on the breakup with dipping. How to come to terms with no dipping ever again. Instead of just telling him to stop romanticizing the past, (which is still great advice) I told him this. And I was telling it to myself at the same time. I tend to think we all do that when we are answering questions from the newer quitters.

Start romanticizing the quit. Find all the good things about the quit, no matter how trivial you think others may find it. They're for you anyway, there is no need to share them. If it is alleviating the fear of cancer, great. Write it down. If it's waking up and not feeling like the Russian Army just marched across your tongue, write it down. Personally, I love spending extra time in bed with my wife, just talking without the nagging nic bitch demanding a fix. I love that my granddaughter doesn't have to make that face again when I pull out my spitter. The way to break up with something is to fall in love with something else. Find those somethings in your quit and fall in love with them.

[Aquaman43]

I was going to post at one year, but I wanted to wait a bit to see how I felt later on. The one year funk was total hell. By far the worst I've been hit in my quit. I laid it out there and had some great support, people reminding me to not romanticize the past.
Things are back to normal now. It took a few days after the quitterversary to calm down. While I was going through the fun, one of the guys in May 22 asked for some strategy on the breakup with dipping. How to come to terms with no dipping ever again. Instead of just telling him to stop romanticizing the past, (which is still great advice) I told him this. And I was telling it to myself at the same time. I tend to think we all do that when we are answering questions from the newer quitters.

Start romanticizing the quit. Find all the good things about the quit, no matter how trivial you think others may find it. They're for you anyway, there is no need to share them. If it is alleviating the fear of cancer, great. Write it down. If it's waking up and not feeling like the Russian Army just marched across your tongue, write it down. Personally, I love spending extra time in bed with my wife, just talking without the nagging nic bitch demanding a fix. I love that my granddaughter doesn't have to make that face again when I pull out my spitter. The way to break up with something is to fall in love with something else. Find those somethings in your quit and fall in love with them.

[Aquaman43]

I was going to post at one year, but I wanted to wait a bit to see how I felt later on. The one year funk was total hell. By far the worst I've been hit in my quit. I laid it out there and had some great support, people reminding me to not romanticize the past.
Things are back to normal now. It took a few days after the quitterversary to calm down. While I was going through the fun, one of the guys in May 22 asked for some strategy on the breakup with dipping. How to come to terms with no dipping ever again. Instead of just telling him to stop romanticizing the past, (which is still great advice) I told him this. And I was telling it to myself at the same time. I tend to think we all do that when we are answering questions from the newer quitters.

Start romanticizing the quit. Find all the good things about the quit, no matter how trivial you think others may find it. They're for you anyway, there is no need to share them. If it is alleviating the fear of cancer, great. Write it down. If it's waking up and not feeling like the Russian Army just marched across your tongue, write it down. Personally, I love spending extra time in bed with my wife, just talking without the nagging nic bitch demanding a fix. I love that my granddaughter doesn't have to make that face again when I pull out my spitter. The way to break up with something is to fall in love with something else. Find those somethings in your quit and fall in love with them.

[/quote]

[Aquaman43]

I was going to post at one year, but I wanted to wait a bit to see how I felt later on. The one year funk was total hell. By far the worst I've been hit in my quit. I laid it out there and had some great support, people reminding me to not romanticize the past.
Things are back to normal now. It took a few days after the quitterversary to calm down. While I was going through the fun, one of the guys in May 22 asked for some strategy on the breakup with dipping. How to come to terms with no dipping ever again. Instead of just telling him to stop romanticizing the past, (which is still great advice) I told him this. And I was telling it to myself at the same time. I tend to think we all do that when we are answering questions from the newer quitters.

Start romanticizing the quit. Find all the good things about the quit, no matter how trivial you think others may find it. They're for you anyway, there is no need to share them. If it is alleviating the fear of cancer, great. Write it down. If it's waking up and not feeling like the Russian Army just marched across your tongue, write it down. Personally, I love spending extra time in bed with my wife, just talking without the nagging nic bitch demanding a fix. I love that my granddaughter doesn't have to make that face again when I pull out my spitter. The way to break up with something is to fall in love with something else. Find those somethings in your quit and fall in love with them.

[Aquaman43]

I was going to post at one year, but I wanted to wait a bit to see how I felt later on. The one year funk was total hell. By far the worst I've been hit in my quit. I laid it out there and had some great support, people reminding me to not romanticize the past.
Things are back to normal now. It took a few days after the quitterversary to calm down. While I was going through the fun, one of the guys in May 22 asked for some strategy on the breakup with dipping. How to come to terms with no dipping ever again. Instead of just telling him to stop romanticizing the past, (which is still great advice) I told him this. And I was telling it to myself at the same time. I tend to think we all do that when we are answering questions from the newer quitters.

Start romanticizing the quit. Find all the good things about the quit, no matter how trivial you think others may find it. They're for you anyway, there is no need to share them. If it is alleviating the fear of cancer, great. Write it down. If it's waking up and not feeling like the Russian Army just marched across your tongue, write it down. Personally, I love spending extra time in bed with my wife, just talking without the nagging nic bitch demanding a fix. I love that my granddaughter doesn't have to make that face again when I pull out my spitter. The way to break up with something is to fall in love with something else. Find those somethings in your quit and fall in love with them.[\b]

[Aquaman43]

Day 265, one hundred days till the first year. That's pretty cool, but even more exciting is that in 100 days it will be April 1st. Around that time I'll be getting my pool ready to open, the trees will be turning green, my truck will be yellow with pine tree spooge. Love live in Georgia.

My quit? My quit is so solid that I find it hard to believe. I feel fucking fantastic and I can't remember being this happy in a very, very long time. If you're thinking about quitting and you're reading this, don't think the day count has everything to do with it. Don't get me wrong, the more numbers you add to that first week of quitting the better it is. But attitude has a lot to do with it. I didn't just quit, I FUCKING QUIT! The difference? I wake up every single day happy with that decision. And I wake up every day happy. I decide what mood I'm going to be in, and I choose to be happy. When I do find myself feeling down, I don't let my thoughts turn to dip. I used to wake up like that when I was dipping and dipping did jack shit to fix it. But not dipping damn sure does. When I look in the fridge and don't have to check if I have enough Cope to make it through the weekend, I smile. When I leave the house and do the pocket pat down, I smile. When I'm hanging out with people and I don't have to find a way out to grab a dip, I smile. When I'm with family and I don't have to use a disgusting spitter and see my granddaughter make that face, I smile. And that makes me happy.

[Aquaman43]

Back in the day, in the Navy days, I was in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for a bit while we decommissioned our boat. Well, my buddy Mikey, he got the chlamydia from one of the young ladies up there and he's miserable, just miserable. So he goes to medical to get some help with this. Well, the shipyard there is over 200 years old and a lot of the buildings are make do with the space that they got; it ain't exactly intuitive how it's laid out. But anyway, Mikey goes to the medical building and walks sheepishly up to the desk and requests to see the doc. Well, this cute young thing manning the desk there asks him why. Well, as you can imagine, Mikey is a little embarrassed about his condition, especially in front of this young lady. So he says it's kinda personal. She looks quizzically at him, not quite understanding his apprehension, "hey we're all medical professionals in here, so...what seems to be the problem?". Mikey in two words - "I got VD".
She starts laughing. laughing out loud, hand over her face and laughing at him.
"This is the dentist office!" she says, "you gotta go upstairs for the doctors office!"

When I was stationed in Okinawa, we had two separate areas for sick call. To one side was the normal sick call, to the other was the STI sick call. Not only did guys pick up stuff locally, but there was a lot of travel to and from the Philippines.

[Athan]

Back in the day, in the Navy days, I was in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for a bit while we decommissioned our boat. Well, my buddy Mikey, he got the chlamydia from one of the young ladies up there and he's miserable, just miserable. So he goes to medical to get some help with this. Well, the shipyard there is over 200 years old and a lot of the buildings are make do with the space that they got; it ain't exactly intuitive how it's laid out. But anyway, Mikey goes to the medical building and walks sheepishly up to the desk and requests to see the doc. Well, this cute young thing manning the desk there asks him why. Well, as you can imagine, Mikey is a little embarrassed about his condition, especially in front of this young lady. So he says it's kinda personal. She looks quizzically at him, not quite understanding his apprehension, "hey we're all medical professionals in here, so...what seems to be the problem?". Mikey in two words - "I got VD".
She starts laughing. laughing out loud, hand over her face and laughing at him.
"This is the dentist office!" she says, "you gotta go upstairs for the doctors office!"

[Keith0617]

Day 222, the dreaded dentist visit. Only I've never dreaded the dentist. When I was in the AF we had to go every six months, and I've done that religiously since I left as well. My dental hygienist asked if I was still quit and I said, "yes, can't you tell." She told me I never had an issue with gum recession or stained teeth. Then she started telling me what see does see in some of the people that dip. I did not know that the stain people get from dipping is actually inside the tooth itself, not on the outside. Then she started talking about gum recession and I had to tune that out. What the actual fuck?
Lucky for me I'm not quitting because of the health and dental stuff, I just don't want to be a fucking slave. I swear to God one of the hardest things about the first hundred days was tapping my left rear pocking to check for dip and having an momentary anxiety attack because it was empty. I don't remember the last time I did that. Freedom, one step at a time. Oh, and them sweet ass pearly whites. 

One thing I haven't done yet since my quit 398 days ago is see a dentist, probaly because I'm afraid.

You should go. You will leave with a smile on your face. 

[Hill_Monkey]

Day 222, the dreaded dentist visit. Only I've never dreaded the dentist. When I was in the AF we had to go every six months, and I've done that religiously since I left as well. My dental hygienist asked if I was still quit and I said, "yes, can't you tell." She told me I never had an issue with gum recession or stained teeth. Then she started telling me what see does see in some of the people that dip. I did not know that the stain people get from dipping is actually inside the tooth itself, not on the outside. Then she started talking about gum recession and I had to tune that out. What the actual fuck?
Lucky for me I'm not quitting because of the health and dental stuff, I just don't want to be a fucking slave. I swear to God one of the hardest things about the first hundred days was tapping my left rear pocking to check for dip and having an momentary anxiety attack because it was empty. I don't remember the last time I did that. Freedom, one step at a time. Oh, and them sweet ass pearly whites. 

One thing I haven't done yet since my quit 398 days ago is see a dentist, probaly because I'm afraid.

[Keith0617]

Day 222, the dreaded dentist visit. Only I've never dreaded the dentist. When I was in the AF we had to go every six months, and I've done that religiously since I left as well. My dental hygienist asked if I was still quit and I said, "yes, can't you tell." She told me I never had an issue with gum recession or stained teeth. Then she started telling me what see does see in some of the people that dip. I did not know that the stain people get from dipping is actually inside the tooth itself, not on the outside. Then she started talking about gum recession and I had to tune that out. What the actual fuck?
Lucky for me I'm not quitting because of the health and dental stuff, I just don't want to be a fucking slave. I swear to God one of the hardest things about the first hundred days was tapping my left rear pocking to check for dip and having an momentary anxiety attack because it was empty. I don't remember the last time I did that. Freedom, one step at a time. Oh, and them sweet ass pearly whites. 

Keep quitting ODAAT and let the days add up. Proud to quit with you brother.