Life is Good (Again)

Writing has never been my strong suit, however, I figured I owed it to some future quitter, because I did spend a lot of sleepless nights reading other peoples speeches. They got me through some tough stretches in my quit. I enjoy reading other people’s speeches and have learned so much from them.

My Quick Bio: 38 male, married, kids, continuous chewer who mostly gutted it and never once tried to quit. I could have a conversation with people and they wouldn’t know I was chewing. This is my first (and last) quit in 20+ years. Also, I’ve been working in China for most of my quit….thus all my early posts aren’t really that early for me I post after lunch over here, cause that’s a huge trigger for me..

I began chewing like so many others in high school. I never thought I would become addicted, and even if I did….how hard is it to simply stop going to the store and buying it?? The arrogance of youth….

A few years after starting chewing I got to the point of accepting my fate. This is where the addiction truly had me by balls. I remember telling myself (for almost 2 decades) that I knew this would kill me, but I would rather die early than live through the daily misery of not having my chew. True addict thinking. What I didn’t realize than is that life is so much better without chew. This isn’t just about oral cancer or money to me. The true “evilness” of chewing is that it slowly rots you from the inside, and it happens at such a slow rate, you fail to realize the damage your incurring both physically and socially. Your teeth slowly decay, your blood pressure slowly rises, your heart slowly gets diseased, your confidence and self respect slowly dwindle. I didn’t even like looking at myself in the mirror in the morning….due to chewing!

I forgot how great it felt to have normal blood pressure, a healthy heart, more energy, self confidence, cleaner teeth, better breath, control of my actions, self respect, a quiet inner calm..and a sense of pride.

For those of you reading this and thinking about quitting, I truly believe the first step is to understand that your addiction is clouding your judgement. For most of you it has been years if not decades since your body and mind reacted normally. It’s easy to underestimate the grip that nicotine has on you, I did for 20 years. But make no mistake, it is controlling you and your thoughts. Let go, give in and jump into this site. Post roll and LISTEN to the advice of those who have broken free from nicotine’s grasp.

I literally chewed non-stop for 20 years (minus sleep and eat), never quit for more than a day, found this site……..and I’m the happiest guy on the planet. I would never say that I have this thing beat, because I know I’m an addict. But I truly do believe in my heart that I will never use nicotine again. Thanks to KTC and everyone on the site, I have broken free and I can finally see chewing for just how stupid it is and I am enjoying the new, healthy, responsible, proud, confident and happy me.

Thanks to all the guys who got me roped into this deal hfd, MOA, TCOPE , corn, ajt I orginally stumbled into this site looking for help with a sore jaw (cracked tooth) and if not for some of those fast, early PM’s I would have stumbled right out and I would still be chewing. Thanks for roping me in, you not only saved my life, but you increased the quality of it tenfold. I’m a lucky guy.

I want to thank my fellow quitters in the December GUARD. I must admit, in the beginning, I thought that name was pretty lame, but now I like it and find it very appropriate. For those of us who have made it to the hall of fame, we know that this is just one step in our journey. I hope we all continue to Guard that for which we fought 100 days to achieve… Guard your Quit.

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