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WE’RE ALL DIFFERENT. WE’RE ALL UNIQUE.
REPOST By Troutnut 1. Date Unknown
“We are all unique!” "We're all different." “My case is different!” Those common phrases are practically the national anthem for people addicted to drugs like nicotine and alcohol.
I've thought those things too, when addiction ruled my life, and I was trying to find different ways to quit without quitting. There were no candy flavored e-cigs or vaping when I quit, or I probably would have tried them. I did try little cigars, clove sickarettes, switching to pot, and I still have a massive old pipe collection from my attempts to quit without quitting. I did the same thing with my alcohol quit. I tried to switch from whisky to just beer. Then to just wine. Then to vodka and rum. But these attempts were all doomed to failure because I kept putting the drug ethanol into my body.
When I finally joined AA in 1998, I was shocked to find out I wasn't different at all. It took a while for a kind older gentleman to show me the truth. And the truth was I wasn't different, special, or unique at all. At least when it came to my addictions. Turns out I was just a garden variety alcoholic. And I later figured out that I was just a garden-variety addict of the drug nicotine, as well. And these two addictions were actively working together, in a race to see which could kill me first. A deadly partnership of diseases the medical field calls "comorbidity”.
I was lucky. People told me the truth and eventually I was able to get through the denial and recognize my terminal diseases for what they were. I asked for, and received help that saved my life. Those of us that have been here a while, have seen it thousands of times. Nice folks who don't have a clue, trying to quit without quitting. There are certainly more ways to do that than there ever have been before. But the results are always the same. A return to smoking at even higher levels than they were before the substitution. They use "addict speak" like "we're all different", “we’re all unique”, and “I thought this was a support site!” to try and cover their tracks and try to fool themselves.
So here is the truth. We are all garden-variety addicts of one of the planet's most powerful, deadly, and addictive drugs. Our very survival depends upon the ability to recognize this fact, and do something about it. That means that eventually we have to learn how to stop putting the drug nicotine into our bodies, one day at a time.
Legitimate NRT is the only exception I can see to this rule, and then only when used precisely as directed. Alcoholics don't get better by switching types of alcohol. Heroin addicts don't get well by switching to hydrocodone or other opiates. And nicotine addicts don't get well by switching delivery devices and keeping the rituals, habits, and neural pathways alive, by pretending to smoke with smoking-like actions. We are certainly all special, unique, and different in many ways. But when it comes to this addiction, we are all in exactly the same boat. Garden variety.
Respect your elders here. They may be the only ones who will tell you the truth. Fellow smokers want you to fail. Big Tobacco wants to keep you as a customer. Never-smokers don’t have a clue. The ONLY ones who can tell you the truth are the elders who were once caught, sprung the trap, and now enjoy the freedom you seek.
It took over three decades for me to finally acknowledge the truth. I hope our newer quitters can get it a little faster than I did. Your friend in Montana
Troutnut1-dennis