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Quitting Dip

Quitting "Cold Turkey"- Dumb Name, Best Method

NotSloth

By NotSloth
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NotSloth

NotSloth

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Those of us who have quit dipping know that the only method of quitting is quitting dip “cold turkey.” Although I will get into where that name comes from later, first the discussion will be about why cold turkey is the only method of quitting dip that works. In order to be quit from something, you have to end all use of that substance. You can’t say that you are going to quit dipping, change the delivery method of nicotine by starting to smoke cigarettes, and pretend that you have conquered your addiction. If you were a smoker, and decided to change your nicotine delivery system to dipping, you would not be better off. Your clothes might start to smell better, and you would look like less of a bitch standing around with a cigarette cradled delicately between your fingers, but you’re still addicted to nicotine.

However, lately for some reason, people think that because vaping hasn’t been proven to cause cancer, it is for some reason okay to be addicted to vaping instead of smoking? For some reason, it’s better to be addicted to nicotine gum, instead of dip? Nicotine replacement is not quitting nicotine, it’s just changing the delivery method. For the members here, those of us who quit dipping cold turkey, cancer fears may have been part of the reason we found this place, but the improved health risks turn out to be a fringe benefit when compared to the freedom from the addiction. The addiction that had silently infiltrated and sabotaged every aspect of our lives. Those who are addicted to dipping really don’t realize how fucked up it is making everything, until they get free of it.

Although tapering off is a method that has been used by a few members here, there are a couple reasons why it’s not as good as just pulling the trigger. First, it prolongs the symptoms of withdrawal from dipping. The timeline  for withdrawal symptoms is fairly short when you quit cold turkey. Most guys feel like shit for 3-4 days. The worst symptoms can be lessened by drinking lots of water, working out, and staying busy. When you start tapering, you are going to experience the same symptoms of quitting dip, and while they are probably going to be less powerful, they will be extended over a period of weeks or months while you “cut back”. At any time during that period, before you have established any real control over your addiction, [i.e. when you don’t know how to fight the mental battle against nicotine cravings], you are pretty likely to “slip up” or “backslide”. And then you’re back to ground zero… or worse, since you have another reason to believe this shit is impossible. Second, building on the previous point, the longer you let nicotine run your life, the longer you are not in control. At some point you have to take control of your life, and stop letting a little plant dictate the terms of your situation. The longer you wait to actually quit, the longer you are a slave. And at the end of your “tapering off” period, guess what you still have to do anyway… quit cold turkey. Because at some point, regardless of how much you use, the day before you quit dipping you were using some amount of nicotine, and the day you quit, you’re not. Congrats, you just spent a few weeks feeling like shit so that you can now commence going through the process that you could have gone through a couple weeks ago... if your marbles were a bit bigger.

 

Cold Turkey is a  great method, and the only one that works. At least it was for every single dude here. And it will be for you as well. But why is it universally known as “cold turkey”. This morning I was thinking about how stupid a name Cold Turkey is for such a bad ass method of quitting dip. Where does this expression come from?

This article suggested three possibilities-

1. The trading of fowl between colonists and natives was direct and no-nonsense, and called ‘talking cold turkey’. So, “Since that phrase already meant ‘to speak frankly and plainly,’ to quit something cold turkey might have naturally followed to mean abandoning something with similar directness.”

I like that one. Abandoning dip with directness. This is exactly what happens when you quit dipping. You reach a point where you can no longer tolerate the health risks, the sneaking around, the constant pull on you to stop what you’re doing in order to have a dip. It’s probably been on your mind for a while. You’ve probably been nagged endlessly to quit by others, (and given zero fucks or just enough to fake it for a while), and you have long known that you have to quit dipping “at some point”. But one day you will finally just say, “I quit’. That is when you will be able to quit cold turkey.

2. The second possible origin related to “To make cold, leftover bits of the bird into a meal requires very little preparation, as does abruptly quitting something.”

This one is the nearest to what I used to think the expression meant, having to do with the meat we eat all the time. I wasn’t really sure what it meant, but thought it had to do with leftovers. The explanation above makes sense as far as an origin, but it isn’t entirely accurate. Quitting something with very little preparation doesn’t really sound like it is going to work. Although “abandoning dip with directness” is how you quit, no one quits without any preparation. You have to feel an internal need to quit, the kind of need that builds up over time. If you don’t really care about quitting, because “it’s not a big deal, you can do it any time, it’s not going to be difficult, whatever” you are not going to quit. How could you? You don’t give a shit. It’s just too easy to start again when you don’t give a shit about stopping.

3. The third possible origin suggests the phrase may come from the condition of the body of the addict during withdrawal, comparing it to the carcass of a turkey. “Both can be clammy, pale and covered in goosebumps, which might have led someone to point out that a user who suddenly quit looked like a cold turkey.”

This seems like someone trying really hard to work backwards to make a result of quitting cold turkey fit into an origin of the word. Like creating a backronym. It feels highly unlikely that the expression began because turkeys are “clammy and pale and covered in goosebumps”. Either way, while this could be true for quitting meth or heroin, this explanation is not appropriate for quitting dip. Nicotine is among the most addictive substances known to man, and it one of the hardest drugs to quit, but you obviously don’t need to have inpatient treatment for nicotine withdrawal. You are not going to be “clammy and pale” all the time. You are not going to die from the withdrawal. You just need to deal with it. It’s not hard to quit because of the withdrawal symptoms. It’s hard to quit because until you sack up and steel yourself against the cravings, until you have found the only reason to quit that sticks [quitting for yourself], it’s too easy to find a pussy excuse to succumb to addiction. You need the right mindset to quit, and the only people that know how to develop that mindset are the people who have already quit. Luckily you have stumbled upon a place where a bunch of them show up every morning ready to share that knowledge, and make no pussy excuses about life being hard.

Anyway, can we come up with a better expression for quitting dip than cold turkey?

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8meds

8meds

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Just now, Guest Guest Test said:

Do I need to register to post?

 

There are regions you're not able to see when you're not registered.  You have very few places where you CAN post as a guest.  Obviously, this is one. 

Jump in, you've come here for a reason. 

Don't dip your toe in ... fucking cannonball.  Man up & register.

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QuitSpeak

QuitSpeak

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8 hours ago, Guest Fuckyou said:

I didn’t read the op

If you knew anything about quitting, you would be quit right now. You seem to have some misconceptions and that's ok. You can learn how to quit here. Go back and read the op would be a start.

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Doc

Doc

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On 8/17/2019 at 10:15 AM, Guest Fuckyou said:

I didn’t read the op but cold turkey is stupid. Any doctor will tell you otherwise. Stop spread fake information!

This doctor disagrees with you.

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Djsoberandfree

Djsoberandfree

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On 8/17/2019 at 11:15 AM, Guest Fuckyou said:

I didn’t read the op but cold turkey is stupid. Any doctor will tell you otherwise. Stop spread fake information!

Poor thing... i spree that ignorance IS bliss.....Not reading the article and then posting about it, that’s part of what’s wrong with the world:/ 

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Doc

Doc

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3 minutes ago, Djsoberandfree said:

Poor thing... i spree that ignorance IS bliss.....Not reading the article and then posting about it, that’s part of what’s wrong with the world:/ 

Now, get an Avatar bro!

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Please fill in your quit date here.

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