Bren HOF Speech – QLF Day By Day

I’ve certainly taken my time writing this, but in some ways I didn’t want to jinx myself. Now that I’m 150+ days in I feel a little bit more secure about stepping into the Hall.

I started smoking at 14 years old. With two parents who were 2 pack a day smokers it wasn’t really a shock that I started. I continued smoking through high school, and then during my senior year I started working third shift at a warehouse where we were locked in. It took me about half a shift before I spotted someone dipping and it took off from there. I smoked and dipped for a nearly ten years after that. In late 2001 I managed to quit both and life was good. Skip ahead a few years. I have two kids and things are going great, until my one year old son started having trouble breathing. A scan showed a growth between his spine and trachea, which was starting to close off the airway. The growth ended up being benign, but it was enough for me to cave. I bought a can and continued to dip for years after that.

Right around Christmas, my wife decided enough was enough, and deep down I knew she was right. I started looking online and found KTC. While reading the info on the site I felt it was worth a try. I dumped my can and posted role.

Since then I’ve had my issues with posting, but more often than not I’ve found a way to post, even if a little late. Seeing that there were others who were going through what I was made it easier for me to realize that I could get through this. Having people from my class contact me to check up on me made me feel like I was not going through this alone.

Over the course of the past five months this site has:made me laugh, pissed me off, left me with my head shaking, and made me feel like I belong. To some extent, each of these things has strengthened my quit.Now at 150+ days I am still QLF, and I plan on continuing that way one day at a time.

Bren

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