Ignorance and Naivete

(Coach Steve drags his soapbox into the room, takes a sip of water, clears his throat and climbs up onto the soapbox prepared to address the cave situation)

60 DAYS. Say it again ladies and gentlemen. 60 DAYS. Now forget that number and the day count of your quit for a moment.

We as humans are a forgetful bunch. Especially us Americans. We forget the struggles that brought us here. We forget the days of the fog and the headaches and the unexplainable rage. Some of us forget why we started this journey in the first place. However, forgetfulness is not the only issue that plagues our quits. Ignorance or naivete also creates several problems.

Forgetfulness

First I will address forgetfulness. Why do we as humans allow ourselves to forget? My opinion is that we forget because it’s the easiest thing to do and because forgetting brings more pleasure than remembering. In this case, we forgetful creatures are also battling an addiction to nicotine. The years of nicotine abuse has created an unstable environment in our brains. That unstable environment fosters our natural tendency to forget unpleasant experiences. We must battle this unstable environment on a daily basis whether it is Day 1, 5, 60, 600 or 6000. We are in a constant “tug-of-war” with our addiction. Once you forget the unpleasant experiences of the early quit, the nicotine is beginning to dig in and pull that rope closer. I’d be willing to bet that ___________ allowed himself to forget long before Day 60. Learn from this quitters. Be vigilant always! We quit one day at a time. Do not celebrate getting to 50 days or being 2/3 of the way to the HOF. These are not milestones or causes for celebration in my opinion. If you’d like another way to think about it, just say that you are ___ days closer to your goal of being quit for life. Before anyone goes there, I’m not questioning the value of the HOF, or the 2nd floor, 3rd floor, etc. The system has value because these are noteworthy accomplishments, but it is my opinion that these are simply that, noteworthy accomplishments and not necessarily a celebration of 100, 200, 300 days quit. Once you celebrate reaching a certain number, your mind becomes content. Once you become content, you feel as if your accomplishments to that point are “good enough.” When you feel like you’ve done “good enough” the nicotine addiction is beginning to pull that rope closer and you’re losing ground.

Ignorance or Naivete

The second issue, ignorance or naivete. Some people either don’t listen or they don’t want to learn. How many times have we seen a caver return to post a day 1 with the same excuses? I didn’t get any numbers, I didn’t create any relationships with my quit brothers and sisters, I didn’t reach out to enough people. How many times do we have to watch our brothers and sisters make the same mistakes, over, and over, and over again? Unfortunately, the answer is a lot. However, that doesn’t have to be you. You don’t have to become another statistic. But that is your responsibility. It is YOUR responsibility to reach out to others. It is YOUR responsibility to pick up the phone and call someone before you stuff tobacco in your lip again. If you cannot shoulder that responsibility, no one else can do it for you. Do not be ignorant. Do not be naive. Admit that you cannot do this alone. I find strength in great numbers, won’t you join me?

I too will not lose any sleep over this, but I will continue to preach accountability to anyone who will listen.

We are April and We Quit Like Fuck!!

NOTE: This piece written by KillTheCan.org forum member Coach Steve