I hit the 1 year mark today and I do it very humbly. Quitting dip and staying quit is no small endeavor. On June 27th of 2013 I had had enoughÂ…and here I am 1 year later, still quitting one day at a time. Thought IÂ’d take this occasion to pass along a few of the thoughts that have helped me quit along the way. Most of the past year I spent putting my head down here at KTC, just posting roll and grinding; focusing on my quit only. Lately IÂ’m trying to pay it back a little, so consider this post a bit of catch up. I may have written some of these before but hope it reaches new people and helps with their quits. Unfortunately for some, I swear a lot and spell terribly.
1.One day quit is an accomplishment, so is two days, 10 days, 50 days, in fact every fucking day you are quit is an accomplishment because no doubt some other sorry sap has caved after being quit the same number of days you are quit now. DonÂ’t be afraid to pat yourself on the back every once in a while. Then start grinding again.
2.Three things you need to quitÂ…1. An absolute desire to stop dipping, if you arenÂ’t sure if you want to be quit, you wonÂ’t be quit for long. 2. An over-riding anger. Anger at the tobacco companies, anger that you are an addict, anger that quitting is so fucking hard, anger at being a lying shit to so many. I donÂ’t know how many craves I staved off by being unrelentingly pissed off, but itÂ’s been the biggest tool in my toolbox of quit. 3. Your daily promise has to mean something. So many people post roll and cave that same day; that drives me fucking crazy. The roll has to be treated as sacred. If you are going to cave then cave, but donÂ’t do it after posting roll. Too many people rely on that roll post to get them through the day, for the weak willed to treat that post like garbage.
3.The sale of dip is illegal in most of Europe and AustraliaÂ….Still think dip is fairly safe? ThatÂ’s two continents who think differently.
4.I still canÂ’t get over the fact that a dip crave is essentially an order from my brain to put a weed in my mouthÂ…and for 26 years I obeyed that order, and now for 1 year I have stopped listening to my brain, but itÂ’s fucking hard. Explain that to someone who doesnÂ’t know anything about nicotine and theyÂ’ll think youÂ’re insane.
5.To all you ninja dippers, you cannot be ninja quitters. I hid my addiction from my wife, family, friends, and coworkers; but I shared my quit with all of them, even though most people I told didnÂ’t know what I was talking about. Because as ninjas go, I was a good one. Opening up essentially created an army of accountability to keep me quit. One thing ninjas hate is eyes on them.
6.Duck Fips (October 2013). I havenÂ’t met any of you, I could pass you by on the street without knowing who you are, but despite that I would be devastated to let you guys down if I caved. So is the power of KTC. Thanks for quitting with me.
7.I have no idea why people stop posting roll after 100 days. There is no doubt that my posts (my promises) have kept me quit on a lot of days since day 100. IÂ’m not saying that you canÂ’t make it without KTC, but to me itÂ’s like throwing the life vests off the boat before reaching the shore.
8.In a weird way having such a hard time quitting is helping to keep me quit. If the early stages of quitting were easier, I might have caved earlier because I would have no worries about going through the insanity of the first 100 days again. Embrace the suck!
9.I always think of quitting like trying to stand up in the water at the beach. The first 10 days are like being out there in a hurricane; it is going to take everything you got just to keep standing. After that, the waves calm down but they still keep hitting you. If you don't keep focused a wave can pull you under. Unfortunately for us addicts, we are always fighting waves; they just grow less in size. This is the bed we made for ourselves. But the second you get pissed off about the waves all you need to do is look around. You're at the fucking beach! Life is good.
10.If you have a dip dream, or more specifically one of those dreams where you realize you caved and donÂ’t know what to tell the KTC brothers. Rejoice! That is one of the greatest tools you will get. Now you know how shitty it will feel to cave.
11.The odds are against you as a quitter of dip. HereÂ’s a link Click here to studies done by British and Dutch researchers finding nicotine harder to quit than crystal meth and cocaine. Reinforces what I have believed since quitting, DIPPING IS FOR THE SOFT, QUITTING IS FOR THE HARD. No way can you be a quitter without being a stone cold, single minded, motherfucking assassin. Quitting is not for the feint hearted.
12.I am an ex-dipperÂ….I am not an ex-addict, I am as addicted now as I was 1 year ago. I will go to my fucking grave addicted to dip. But, if IÂ’m going to be addicted the rest of my life, I plan to be kicking my addiction in the dick every damn day.
Thanks for reading my ramble. 365 days quit.
