The Early Drama When Quitting

Does the “high school bullshit” serve a purpose?

Oh, we remember. Pretty well, actually.

Some months are absolutely dead quiet. Others are noisy. Some are downright nuts. (Noooooo, I’m not looking at you, F.U.R.Y. – not at all! )

The thing is… different people react to this sort of stiff differently. I absolutely guarantee you that if it was somber, 100% spot-on quit related stuff in here, there would be someone who said, “Holy crap, you guys never joke about anything! That’s it, I can’t take it anymore. Peace out.”

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

A lot of this back and forth weird crap is just what Atown said earlier – hanging out. Shooting the breeze. Getting to know one another. Some of the random crap is to draw people out, and remind you that while you’re in a quit group, there’s more to life than quitting. Some of it is to try and help facilitate conversations and build relationships. Some of it is…

…well, to be honest, some of it is because we get bored. But mostly, it’s to help you guys out.

“What?!? You think crap like this is helping us out?”

Well… yeah. Listen, I was a slave to the can for 33 years before I found KTC and learned to quit.

That’s my entire adult life.

I never learned how to deal with annoyance, frustration, or anger without falling back on a nicotine hit.

In my first few hundred days here, I learned how to deal with that crap in a… ugh, it pains me to even say this, but… safe space.

This place is an accelerated course in learning how to deal with other people sans nicotine. “How Not To Cave 101”.

It’s part of the learning process. Really. No, it’s not intentional, and yes, there are some real buttheads here. Just like there are in real life, actually. You’ll have to learn to deal with them without nicotine, too.

So you might as well ‘cowboy up and learn how to do it here instead of experimenting with your boss, your co-workers, your neighbors, your wife or your kids.

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