Glad to be here

[Athan]

3/10/18
Wake up calls.
You ever put one in at a hotel?
Maybe with your spouse or roommate?
Not sure if youÂ’d get up on time for whatever reason and needed the extra kick in the pants to wake up.
Ran across a brother who needs gum grafts.
ThatÂ’s gotta be some kinda wake up call.
For me it was waiting for the results of a biopsy after an endoscopy; that was one intense wake up call.
What about you? Can you wake up on your own?
Or are you waiting for the wake up call?

TIME IS NOT ON YOUR SIDE

[Athan]

3/9/18
Had a guy give up on his quit today. WasnÂ’t surprised really; he was late when and if he posted. He didnÂ’t offer support.
So I had some issues yesterday with my little outburst in this forum. Within the hour I was contacted by no less than four people. They are as invested in my quit as I am in theirs. We support each other. I wasnÂ’t on my way to the store and I shouldnÂ’t even have intimated that; but these brothers of mine werenÂ’t taking any chances. We donÂ’t get to where weÂ’re standing on the precipice of using again because we take action before that happens.

Noah built the ark BEFORE the flood; he didn't wait for it to start raining.

IÂ’ve got my ark.

What are YOU going to do when it starts raining?

[Athan]

3/8/18
In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest. Took them 7 weeks.
Know how they did it?
One step at a time.

WhatÂ’s your Everest?
Give me 7 weeks.
Together, weÂ’ll mount that summit.
One day at a time.

[Athan]

3/7/18
You stare at the floor. You are alone in a crowded waiting room. You’re finding it hard to breathe; as if a weight were actually on your chest compressing it. Though it’s 65 degrees in there you are bathed in a cold sweat. Cancer. The word itself instills fear in just about everyone. “What is that stuff Daddy? That stuff you put in your mouth?” You remember his little words, spoken so long ago like they were yesterday. Your little man. Little nothing. He’s a strapping young man now. You’ve never been more proud of anything or anyone in your whole life. You were there at his graduation from boot camp. The pride on his face was nothing to what you held in your heart. One of your greatest joys is introducing him to acquaintances, “This is my son…”
“Sir?”, the doctors words shake you from your reverie. “Sir, your son is going to be fine. We had to take some 60% of his jaw and 30% of his tongue. But we think we got it all.”
True. He might have learned to chew from someone else.
But he didnÂ’t.
He learned from you.

[Athan]

3/6/18
You might be its bitch if:
You've deferred sex for nicotine
You've been broke and paid for it with a credit card (you friggin financed your addiction you idiot, you actually paid interest on it!)
You've looked for the round silhouette on strangers in a crowd so you could bum a chew
You've lied about using
You've stashed cans to ensure your next fix was never out of reach
You've driven cross town because your normal stop was out
You've fallen asleep with a chew in
You've recycled a chew because you were running low
You've put a chew in and experienced pain because your lip is shredded
You've stolen from your kids piggy bank to finance your dirty deed
You've not only eaten with a chew in, you've actually gotten proficient at it

Aren't you tired of being it's bitch?

[Athan]

3/5/18
So we had a guy cave yesterday. Said he was “half-assing” his quit.
CanÂ’t begin to convey the sense of loss I felt.
Here was someone who made a conscious decision to stop using a dangerous substance but in the end was unable to resist the sirens call.
6 days into it.
I wonÂ’t sugar coat it; itÂ’s a trial. The cravings are real. But so is freedom.
IÂ’m 63 days free today because I didnÂ’t cave yesterday.
I and most of the guys in our group communicate and actively lean on each other.
The guy that caved didnÂ’t. He neither sought out nor offered help.
He tried alone and he died alone.

[Athan]

3/4/18
Time is not on your side

How old were you when you started?

Time is not on your side

[Athan]

3/3/18
Hard.

It's a word used by the weak to describe that which requires effort.

[Athan]

3/2/18
Take that can out and look at it. Really, go ahead. Take it out and look at it. ItÂ’s not made of gold or anything.
What if I told you that you paid $50,000 for it.
What, you didnÂ’t know it was an installment plan?
DidnÂ’t know with the first can you were signing up for LIFE?
You werenÂ’t planning on that were you?
If a slick salesman were sitting before your son with a legal contract and was pushing your kid to sign the dotted line that would obligate him for $5 a day for the REST OF HIS LIFE and you had a baseball bat, how would that all pan out?
What person in their right mind commits themselves to a financial contract in perpetuity that could cost them their life?
I wouldnÂ’t even do that for a cool pickup truck.
And for a can? Really?

[Athan]

3/1/18
You ready to be all in?
Because there's no point entering unless you are.
There's no such thing as half-quit.
I mean, you don't get half-syphilis.
The doctor isn't going to tell you, "I'm sorry, but you've got half cancer"
Your objective, should you choose to commit, is to quit every day.
You'll post roll with others promising to do just that, every day.
You'll notice some that post late, some that miss days.
They're not all in. They don't make it. They're on their way to getting half-herpes or half-diabetes.
What about you?
You ready to be all in?

[Athan]

2/28/18
xxxxxxxxx

Polonium-210 (Po-210) is a radioactive material that occurs naturally in the earthÂ’s crust.

Similar to bananaÂ’s and their affinity for potassium-40, tobacco has an affinity for Polonium. That means that the plant will naturally absorb the nuclide whereas other plants wonÂ’t.

Now here is the interesting part, Po-210 emits alpha particles. Of all the radioactive particles, the alpha particle is the largest, has the highest charge, and does the most biological damage.
Because of its large mass and high charge, it is stopped by the clothes that you wear or even your skin. So itÂ’s a radiation hazard only if it is taken into the body through breathing or eating.

Polonium has a half-life of 138 days. That means that after 138 days, you will still have half of what you just ingested.

Much of Po-210 is passed through feces, although the remaining amounts that enter the bloodstream can concentrate in organs such as the spleen, kidneys, and liver.

And you thought oral cancer was the only risk; think again. You canÂ’t pull your spleen out and look at it to see if youÂ’ve been chewing too much the way you can look at your lip or gums in the mirror.

Ready to spit that dip out and quit for real now?

Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/polonium-210.htm
https://www3.epa.gov/radtown/tobacco.html

[Athan]

2/27/18
There was a slight chill in the air so I grabbed a light jacket on the way out. When I got there a buddy starts busting my balls about needing a coat.
"Yes it's true, a real man can endure the elements." I said. Then I added, "But only an idiot does it needlessly."
So it is with the quit. A real man can bear that burden alone.
But only an idiot would do it needlessly.

[Athan]

2/26/18
Know what makes my day?
When a young father comes along. He's got a little girl he wants to be there for. He's got a little boy he wants to watch become a man. And he's made a decision that they are more important than the can.
I've heard it said that urgent things are seldom important while important things are seldom urgent.
Well that craving you feel for that next pinch is an urgent thing.
Watching your children grow up, well, I think you'll agree with me that that's important.
Yeah, if you came on in outa the cold and posted by the fire where all the quitters stand round and support each other, that'd make my day.

[Athan]

2/25/18
...all we are saying, is give quit a chance

...what if they gave a can and no one chewed.

[Athan]

2/24/18
Excuses.
What are some of the ones that you use?
After this can, just dropped $5 on it and I'm not gonna throw that out (um, that was 500 cans ago)
After this weekend (um, that was 100 weekends ago and counting)
She's driving me crazy (um, that's what they do)
I work with idiots! (um, don't we all? and that can will magically make the world smarter? Really?)
I broke my leg (sorry about the leg, um, and the can has bone healing medicinal properties?)
I have so much extra cash I don't know what else to do with it (um, please call me I can help you out)
Chicks dig it! (no, not really and can we talk about that mullet while we're on the subject?)
What's it to you, I'm only hurting myself (not while we're on a quasi socialized medical system but that's another class)
The tobacco companies are counting on me (just copenhagen alone is over a BILLION dollars a year)
Statistics are in my favor that I won't get cancer/diabetes/stomach ulcers/extremity circulatory damage/etc. (statistics are meaningless to the ones that do, and their families)
I do it in secret, she doesn't know (and lying to your spouse has always been a good foundation for a marriage/relationship?)
The fact is, there are as many excuses as there are cans of tobacco. I'm sure you can add to the list ad nauseum.
Winners have results. Losers have excuses. Your choice. Your life.
Choose life.