Freedom! – AWOL’s HOF Speech

My family moved to Georgia when I was 13, and I started dipping within a year or two, because that’s what teenagers in Georgia did. I fought through the initial dizziness and throwing up so I could be as cool as the other dippers, and was soon hooked without even knowing it. This was so long ago that my high school actually had an outdoor dipping lounge. A couple years later, while working in a carpet warehouse, a friend suggested I try a cigarette because I could get a quick buzz. I’ll never forget one of the older guys in the warehouse telling me to put that cigarette down while I still could. Of course I laughed and shook it off as an old guy that foolishly lost control. That would never be me!

I dipped for the next 12,000 days or so, telling myself (as many others here have done) I’ll quit when married, when I have kids, when I turn 40, etc. You know this story! I was able to quit smoking in January 2013, but felt like a big phony when others would congratulate me; since I was still dipping, I had accomplished nothing. In fact I added a new habit in nicotine gum, since it was hard to sneak off for a dip when at work.

Finally after a referral to an oral surgeon I realized I couldn’t wait any longer. I re-read the Allen Carr book that helped me stop smoking, and it worked again. After my gums checked out ok, I can still visualize myself reaching for the door to leave the doctor’s office thinking “well this is good; now I can keep dipping for a while!” Fortunately I hung on and found KTC 2 days later. What’s this, I thought – I can post whatever I want just to vent, and hear from others going through the exact same thing? Just what I needed, when I needed it: a site that asks nothing of me but to post roll and wants nothing other than to help me quit.

Thank you to all the vets, mods, admins, groups, and most of all to May ’16. You gave me a place to get all my thoughts, negative and positive, out of my head. Most of all, just knowing you are out there going through the exact same thing helped me get through countless craves, triggers, or even entire days. I realize now that most of the advice I posted was to help me more than anyone. And many of you had much greater challenges that I did. I still have moments every day where it strikes me how indescribably great it is to be free.

I know I’ll leave someone out and for that I apologize, but wanted to do something a little different here at the end of our month to recognize my groupmates:

Daisy – Can rage with the best of ’em. Inspiring to watch you progress from your earlier posts
Electra & Bootsnballcap – Great team!
Rex – Always a strong steady influence and upbeat
MadDog59 – Always ready to chime in and offer support or advice. Great positivity and knowledgeable about lots of stuff.
texasyeti – our driving force. Always watching and holding everything together.
Nodipinthislip – Great user name. I made up a little heavy metal song with that as the lyrics that I sing in my head.
Njohns23 – You invited me to the GroupMe and gave me a critical tool in my quit.
Davalin – You live quite a life! Enjoy that.
rombi – Trusted me and only me with his digits. A monastery quitter
Helmuemd82 – Never have understood that user name
Mhfree – Quit bro! 02-20-16
RNGLock – Another one that’s always there to throw support someone’s way and seems to be having fun quitting.
3 Can – Much respect for pushing through. I misjudged you!
Granger829 – Big inspiration for me in how you fought through long boring days after surgery
Coal Rollin’ Sailor – Appreciate your enthusiasm! What exactly is a Coal Rolling Sailor?
moddyd – One of a kind BAQ. Defender of May and offender of all other groups
Nboling84 – 30 Seconds is legendary
pcold – I pulled for A&M during NCAA tournament because of you
Fl0yd64 – Awesome avatar. I still do that when I have two pairs of shades available
LavenderGooms – Quit bro! 02-20-16. Go Falcons though
ColinG – Added a lot of excitement to our group. Appreciate your passion.
Big_Whit – another that I sensed was always watching.
thatjeepguy – Very cool jeep you’ve got there. More than a little jealous.
Surgio65 – Two chicks at the same time, man. You laid into me early on when you thought I referred to soccer as football lol. Enjoy the Indy 500 today.
Deltawhiskey – Cool username
Grizzlymint – Great quitter and I appreciate all the experiences you shared with us. Thanks for collecting for us too. Pulling for Thunder just for you.
NopenhagenLongCut – Another brilliant user name. How do you guys come up with these during The Fog?
bobchap – Good man, and that’s coming from a UGA Dawg. Great avatar; I want to play that course.
Ky97 – Impressive quitting, young man. You’re smarter than the rest of us for quitting early.
QC – we haven’t forgotten you. We’re all pulling for you
Vinnybfd – another classic avatar in Buddy Christ
Gone Cruisin and wepdoc – Thank you for getting us all on board and for the thoughtful biographies.
PatrickG, kramer, jpfabel – Our shepherds. As solid as they come.
Robert31, SaltwaterDawg, JayDH74, Quitter555, Mikharr123, EHM, Birny5, GamerOnWheelz, Hanzen, JonH32, rjclark, WD89, mcsnapper, shimmy, Bommer44, Burris, Bmalo, billg, Matt2517, Marsh, FatheadRed, Brm104 – Great quitters all of you. Thanks for reading my vents and random thoughts.

Quit on, brothers and sisters!

NOTE: This piece written by KillTheCan.org forum member AWOL