My Journey – To The Person That Hasn’t Quit Yet

Like many I started dipping with friends. In the beginning I was absolutely enjoying it. The burning sensation on my bottom lip. The relaxed feeling it gave me while I sat with friends.

But soon after, there I was vomiting in the toilet. Who would ever go back to something that made them so sick. An addict!! Not knowing it, I was addicted as soon as I had my first dip. Shortly thereafter I was bumming a dip here or there from friends. I was only a recreational dipper. At least I kept telling myself that.

I began dipping at 17 years old. So it wasn’t readily available to me, because I wasn’t old enough to purchase yet. But right when I turned 18 (when the clock struck midnight) I was at the convenience store buying a tin of dip. The full blown addiction had begun. At the time I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I told myself it was “ok” because I had only been doing it a for a short time and could stop whenever I wanted to.

Approximately 3 years later I took a “break” from dipping. I was so proud. I would have a dip once in a while when I was drinking, but not everyday as I previously was. It lasted around 4 months. I told myself I could have a tin on an upcoming trip because I could stop right after. WRONG. There I was again dipping a tin a day. The affair with dip lasted another 3 years.

Which brings me to January 31, 2010. There I was at work. Thinking about when I would make my next attempt to quit. I thought of all the upcoming events in my life that would suck not to have dip. Including an upcoming snowboarding trip. I always seemed to find an upcoming event to stop me from quitting. But I was so sick of being stressed about cancer. In December of 2009 I went to the doctors because I thought I found cancer. It turned out to be nothing but the stress was driving me crazy.

I thankfully decided it was time. I went to the office and got on the internet. I searched “quitting chewing tobacco” and located this site. Without this site I would still being going through the same scenario as described above. Over and over again. That night I found fake chew (hooch) on the internet. I immediately purchased 12 tins for 40 dollars. To this date I have 8 full tins left. Those four tins helped tremendously.

To the person reading this that hasn’t quit yet. YOU CAN DO IT. I never thought I could do it. I would make attempts, but I truly thought I would never be able to quit. Well I did. Its been 270 days and counting. It was hard, extremely hard. Even after 100 days I still craved dip. Up until about 200 days I probably thought about it once a day, or at least it felt like it. Now I think about it once and a while. You will never believe how easy it gets once you get over that proverbial hump.

Thank You QSXtreme for saving my life and many others.

NOTE: This piece written by KillTheCan.org forum member BJS328