Chewbaka – My Quit Journey

We are not all white. We are not all Catholics. We are not all parents. We don’t all love sports. We are not all married. We are not all happily married. We are not all middle class.

My name is Jeff Schneider aka Chewbaka. I am the above. You may be able to relate to me and you may be the exact opposite as me. Regardless of that, I am proud that we are here for the same reason.

We share at least one thing in common. We are here to quit smokeless tobacco. From day one that has been my goal. I have talked to some people via text, email and have had some great phone conversations and I look at that as a bonus to my quit. I have made some friends on the way but that is not why I am here. I have had people call me arrogant, cocky, outspoken, my comments “off the cuff” and I don’t argue with any of that. I am only here to talk a little shit and quit smokeless tobacco.

When I was 15 years old, my buddy and I had just finished playing basketball at a local fitness center when he pulls out a tin of wintergreen skoal. I didn’t know what hit me. I was dizzy, felt like I was gonna puke and just wanted normalcy to settle back in. When I got home, I laid in the shower with my gym shorts on feeling half dead. Went to bed probably at 7:30 that night. It blows my mind that I would ever want that feeling again but from that day forward, I was addicted to nicotine.

Just like many of you, I was a ninja dipper. I hid it from my parents, my in-laws, my wife, my kids…you name it, I hid it. The old, “No, I am gonna stay up for a while and watch tv” dip. How bout the “I am going to take the dog for a walk at 11:00 pm” dip. Or the “My wife and kids are in the car so stick it as far back in your left cheek as you possibly can” dip. There are many more, as I am sure you all could share, but it finally got to a point where I was so disappointed that a little $3.00 a day can was running my life.

So one day my wife comes home in the middle of the day while I was “working from home” and I had my Gatorade bottle and my large “no one is home volcano sized Grizzly dip” in. “How is quitting going?” That was it for the rest of the day. You see, usually we would have to go through how I have been doing a great job slowing down (LIE) and how I plan to quit very soon (LIE). I told her that I would quit by the time 2009 rolls around. That was 10-8-08, the last day that I chewed tobacco. It pissed me off that my quit had become a joke to her and she had given up on me.

If you are reading this and you have a dip in your mouth, throw it out. I chewed for 15 years, a can and a half a day at my worst and I quit. You are absolutely going to feel like shit at times. You might have some panic attacks, sure. You might want to rip someone’s head off. That is why we are here. If you are here, you want to quit. DO IT TODAY. Use this website and the people on it. Someone can relate to your story. Someone is willing to lend a hand to you. We all went through a Day 1 posting and never thought that we would get to 100. We can help.

THANK YOU:

Chewie – This website is truly a gift.

My wife – I printed the Spousal Support Letter out for her and she understood why I had turrets syndrome the first couple of weeks.

Mike – Keep up your quit. You are a true friend.

Burton – Seeing you posting first thing kept me strong and helped me to stay quit.

Animal – The wisdom texts that you share are great. “Ah what a beautiful day to be quit.”

Sweenz – You probably don’t remember because I have learned that this is just how you work but thanks for calling out January 09’ early.

BBJ – Thank you for the support.

CJ – Sometimes tough love works. Thanks.

January 09’ Members:
Balls City, ddevries, Bigpapa, Copefiend, Balto, Navy Chief, jwendell, Q2W, and to the others that I forgot, thank you.

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