Welcome to the club Irv. Our stories sound similar. Shoot me a PM and lets exchange digits. I am proud to quit with you.
Keith aka Keith0617
Hello Fellow Quitters:
Just a quick intro to kick off our new relationship. I’ve been using smokeless tobacco in one form or another since around age 12. I’ll turn 52 on 11/24, so that’s nearly 40 years of addiction. I can’t believe I just typed that...40 years!
I suppose I started much the same way most of us did. Growing up in the sticks, it seemed all the kids chewed...certainly all the kids I thought were cool chewed. I still remember the taste of my first dip (Happy Days), the head spin and spitting it out just in the nick of time...before it actually made me throw up. I guess you have to be pretty determined to overcome such a wretched 1st experience and ever try it again. That determination was rewarded with 40 years of addiction. With your help, I want to use that same determination to never your tobacco again.
Most (if not all) of the friends who started with me quit along the way. Some in high school to avoid alienating those girls who would never date a guy who chewed, others in college as they got their lives together and the rest after marriage and kids (you know, something bigger than you to live for). But not me. No. I stuck with it. Some years in the open, some years in hiding (depending on the circumstances). Despite the loving wife who is my best friend, two great kids, success as a corporate lawyer...chew has been my constant companion, my throwback to the simpler times of youth, the comfort against everything from boredom to anxiety, the stimulant to stay focused during 60 hour work weeks/nights.
However, despite this long relationship, I can’t remember the last time I actually enjoyed a chew. For as long as I can remember now, chew has been a crutch and bandaid to stave off the jitters and fog of nicotine cravings. Just an addict feeding his habit.
About a year ago, I moved away from dip to snus, convincing myself after devouring all the literature that snus was as close to harmless as tobacco can be, plus it was inexpensive and discrete. If I couldn’t kick the habit, snus was the way to go. Even if I had to use it until it or something else ended my days on this earth.
However, recently I’ve been making a lot of changes in my life...for the better. Cutting back on work to spend more time with the family before my kids are both out of the house, going to therapy to work on my lifelong anxiety and a host of other things. Being addicted to tobacco was no longer acceptable, and certainly was not consistent with how I want to spend the rest of my life.
I have quit tobacco many times during my 40 years of addiction...even a few lengthy hiatuses. But I always came back. This time is different because I am prepared to do whatever it takes to never go back...including, most importantly, seeking the help and support of others. That’s why I’m joining all of you here. I know I cannot do this alone...and I’m not ashamed or embarrassed to seek help and offer support I’m return.
According to my Quitter app, my last snus pouch was 10:11pm on 11/3 (over 8 days ago). I truly appreciate all of you who are quitting with me and I look forwards to figuring out the site and being an active member of this community!
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