Quitting is Simple

You write a HOF speech for a couple reasons. First, 100 days is a great time to take some quiet time and reflect on the difficulty of what you have just accomplished. By no means have you completed your journey, but it is important to celebrate all your victories. Second, it’s damn near impossible to make it to the HOF without developing some relationships with your fellow quitters. Now is the time to say thank you to those who helped you through the rough patches. Sometimes they don’t even know their influence, and it is important you recognize them at least this one time. And third, I remember the first few days on the site I read all of the HOF speeches. I cannot believe I am the only person to do this. Reading such personal revelations from fellow quitters gave me such strength. If taking the time to write this speech can move even one person into the ‘quit’ column, than it is worth it.

I don’t have an inspiring story. I haven’t come up with any original sage wisdom. For me, it was very simple. On July 12, 2010 I ended my 17 year relationship with Skoal Mint. Like many long term relationships, there was no crying, no raising of voices, both sides simply knew that it was time. I didn’t know how I was going to go on without it, but I knew that I could no longer go on with it. I prayed for strength for a long time that night before hitting the sack.

I was quit for a week on my own before God answered my prayer. I stumbled across qsx in a coffee shop as I was trying to do some work. I was baffled by the concept of such a website. How could simply saying ‘I won’t use nicotine today’ on a website populated by a bunch of strangers give me the power to quit? Simple. If you are a man (or woman) of your word, and you say that you will not dip, you just can’t dip. It’s not rocket science. I spent five days trying to register for the site. Thankfully, chewie responded to my email for help and I was up and running. The fog was so thick I could barely read, but I spent the first few days reading every HOF speech, all the words of wisdom, what to expect. . .everything I could get my hands on. When I wasn’t reading, I was in the chat room. After
a short time, it became clear to me that no matter what happened, I was going to be a quitter for the long haul. I drank the kool-ade, if you will, and was rewarded by getting my life back.

You see, the best thing that QSX did for me, was to clarify HOW exactly I was going to be quit. It’s not easy, but quitting IS simple. Let me break it down into the four steps that I think it takes:

1. You need to make up your mind that you ARE going to quit. One of the first things I was told was that we do not ‘try’ to quit here. QSX works, but only if you’re ready to truly be quit.

2. You need to change your mindset. Referring back to step one, even your words matter. Nicotine is a horribly addictive substance. Heroin addicts can quit heroin but not tobacco. Most people trying to quit simply do not realize how strong a grip nicotine has on their life. Going for a car ride? Make sure you have something to spit in, don’t want spit running down the side of your vehicle. Working on the house? Not without a chew I’m not. Working? Studying? Watching tv? Whether or not I realized it, getting and using tobacco affected my life in a very real way. I had to relearn how to do almost everything.

3. You just have to post EVERY day and keep your word. Some will say that logging onto a website for two minutes is just too burdensome, that they can do it on their own. I’m not saying that people can’t quit without qsx, certainly people have long before the internet existed (I’m looking at you BBJ.) But if you want to be successful, you have got to change your attitude about everything. For me, I was willing to do whatever it took. Every morning I would roll out of bed, fire up the computer and post roll. I still do that, every day. For 178 days in a row. I don’t know that I need to do it every day anymore, but it’s not broken so I’m not going to try and fix it.

4. The last thing you must do is engage. This site is full of knowledge, all you have to do is read. Read other quit groups from start to finish and you can see the growth of a group of quitters. Get on chat and talk to people. You’ll wind up finding out that many people are going through the same stuff you are, or went through the stuff you are. Part of what helped me at first was learning that I wasn’t going crazy, that what was happening to my body is normal, that it’s just the price to pay for releasing nearly two decades of poison out of my body. And after a while, you become a resource for someone else, and you find that setting a good example for someone behind you makes your quit stronger. Not everything on this site is for everybody, but that’s the beauty of it. Take what you need for you and your quit and leave the rest of it.

Four steps. . . that’s it. Do these four things and you can have your life back. I promise.

And now. . .to the awards.

My first thank you must go to the first person who ever interacted with me on this website, RWM. Barely an hour after I had posted my introduction, someone had already reached out to show me support. In the days since then, I have not had a single interaction with him. But if he hadn’t done that for me, I’m not sure I would have lasted much longer than that. I quit with Rob.

My second thank you must go to the second person who ever interacted with me on this website, Greg5280. The student’s quitter, the constant sharing of your research helps not just me, but everyone here. When I was convinced that I had quit too late, that I had already done enough to write my final chapter, you took the time to share that it was the same for you as well. I may have killed myself from the anxiety if you hadn’t calmed me down and shared your (similar) experience.

To Chewie and the rest of the admins. . .you guys are a true gift from God. You quite literally have saved my life.

To my quit brothers and sister in October. I always hated the name, but I am proud to be COCKS with you. KTG, Croc, and Perm (and Cando). . .you guys were in chat all the time at the start of my quit. OD, the night you couldn’t stop pacing made me think that maybe I didn’t have it so bad. TQ, you really classed up the place. Engineer, Samwhite, Bennythekid, we all quit the same day. You guys helped me more than you know, each of you in your own way. I could say something positive about all of you, but I’ll just leave it at ‘Stay quit.’ Thank you for walking this walk with me, you know you can call/text me anytime if you need it.

I could write personal thank yous to many, many people, but in the interest of time, I’ll just do it rapid fire and hope I don’t miss anybody. Gator(you pimp,) Moa, Rad, Klark (just sack up and quit bro,) Markr, R.C., Yankees1, Samcat, MikeA, Tcope, SM (you, sir, have a true gift with the written word,) Ready, XDD (I know you still post with us every day,) Kdip, Theo. . .I deeply thank you for the example you all have set as well as your commitment to paying it forward. Tarpon, BTK, N2, Gomer, Davenc, Crabbr, Keddy, Rock, Dadoffive, AN, Luke, NCheel. . .believe it or not, for almost every one of you I remember your first day on KTC. I’m proud of the quitters you are becoming/have become, and want to let you all know that you guys have strengthened my quit by being there to set an example for. I know I’m missing people, and I apologize for that. I swear I can hear the music telling me to ‘wrap it up.’

Come on in, the quittin’s good. And it is just that simple.

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