Better Things To Do
As it began, so shall it continue….
When I pulled that last dip out on 1/23/2011, I new I did not want to go back. I was positive I needed and wanted to quit. I was taking away time from my wife, my son, and everyone else who cared about me. Time now and time in the future. What kind of selfish prick takes time away from their kids to dance with the devil?
While I had decided to quit, I also new I was full of shit. I had been down this road before. Many times. I would get fed up with the price, with the stank ass spitters, with the crumbs on the car seats, the gutting it when someone comes into the office, all of it. And then a day, a week, hours later I would be at the nearest death dealers doorstep dropping whatever it cost for my fix, throwing one in before i was even in the car. And hating every fucking second of it.
Who did I think I was fooling? Then I found this site. As I signed up, and read through some of the Welcome Center, looked at some of the pics, and read some HOF speeches, I figured what the hell? It cant hurt. I was skeptical how a single post as a promise to a bunch of unknown people could possibly make this any different, but I was desperate. I had better things to do than continue to be a slave to the can. So I signed up, and posted a day 1 in May 2011 on 1/24/11.
Shortly after I posted my day 1, the shit hit the fan as RedRooster posted his day 1 with “Day 1 Bitches! Back for another quit. I made it 2 years last time.” It was like gmann had dropped the soap in a prison shower. I wasnt quite sure what I had just signed up for.
Over the next week, I felt like my head was never going to clear, I had suddenly come down with ADD, and I was unable to control my temper. I also was going back and forth with Hootie in pm’s and texts. I can honestly say that Hootie helped keep me quit early on. Someone who could fully relate to what I was going through and was willing to rant and rave with me. New quitters, I encourage you to be active on the forums, but if you have no other interaction with this site it is CRITICAL to your quit to have one or more quit brothers you can call, pm, or text – CRITICAL
In that first week, we were also challenged by Ready to post with May 08. I read through their quit group, and saw they too went through some shit. I started to realize that I was not unique. I also realized that something worked for some of these folks, and I needed to find out what it was.
Over the next couple of weeks, I got more involved with the site and started sending out pm’s like crazy to new people. some responded, some did not. I traded numbers with a bunch of folks, and then we started texting. Next thing you know, I was a month quit and had no intentions of ever going back. I knew what the secret was. Post roll, honor your word, repeat. Getting involved helped me tremendously, and I don’t apologize for anyone I annoyed with my texts. Hopefully I helped you, but I have not been shy about the fact it was for selfish reasons.
Sometime, during all of this, I realized something. I had admitted to myself that I was an addict. I had faced the fact that I will ALWAYS be an addict. And, as the son of an alcoholic, I knew what that meant. Addicts have to work to stay clean, and there is no such thing as “just one.” Seeing some of the HOF+ quitters coming back and posting day 1 reaffirmed that to me. The price I will pay for freedom is simple – post roll daily, honor my word. So long as I do this, I will be free to do all those better things.
There are a lot of people I owe thanks to; most of all is the 3 Balled Quitter of May 2011. You all are an amazing group of quitters. All of you. Hootie, 30, Magnum, and others have been especially instrumental in my quit in different ways and I cannot thank you enough.
There are so many vets I would like to thank, but suffice it to say that you all were instrumental to my quit. Ready, Signal31x, Show, Baitbanjo, SkoalMonster – you all have helped me more than I ever could thank you for. The only thing I can possibly do to repay you is to pay it forward and help the next group of quitters.
To all you who may be reading this and wanting to quit; do it. There is no better time than now. If you dont think this works, or think the whole idea sounds like bullshit – what do you have to lose? Sign up. Post roll. Honor your word.
The best part? You only have to worry about today. So simple, so effective. The easiest hard thing you will ever do.
Again, a big thank you to May 2011 and to KTC. I quite literally owe you my life.
NOTE: This piece written by KillTheCan.org forum member jost2brown
