Dealing with anger is a totally normal part of quitting. Learning how to control yourself during this nic-rage is key.
Angry huh? Whether you have quit dipping before, are in the process of quitting or even just thinking about quitting, it is important to know what you are facing so there are no surprises. One of the biggest things to expect when quitting dip is to feel more anger than you ever have before.
There are many reasons why you become irate, mad and irritated, but there are ways that you can deal with it until it eventually passes. This isn’t a quick process by any stretch, but with steel balls and determination it does go away. If you would like some help quitting dip, check out our message boards, the link is up and to the left. Feeling like this is a totally normal part of this whole thing, we see it on a daily basis on our forum. The anger is one of the hardest things for new quitters to deal with and overcome. But you need to understand that it is temporary, and won’t last forever. Understanding that really helps.
One of the reasons that this place works so well is that we make this whole quitting thing seem more attainable, and you’re not all on your own. You can learn from guys who have been through the rage before you. And actually see that yes, it does get way better. Being able to see that the rage passes first hand is priceless.
What Causes The Rage?
When quitting dip, the anger you experience is caused from your body and brain not getting something that it has been getting for a long time. Something that you have become addicted to. You were and still are addicted to nicotine. So when you don’t give yourself the nicotine laden dip that your brain expects, you become physically and emotionally irritated and cross because your body is deprived of something it is dependent on. It is similar to alcoholics and drug addicts when they don’t get the chemicals they are addicted to. Your body is deprived of nicotine, not just dip or chew, and that causes you to become extremely irate.
It turns you into someone that no one wants to be around. And raging addicts are notorious for take their fits out on the ones that they are the closest to. You have to think about your addiction like an addiction, not a habit. Once you understand addiction and what your actually going through, the whole thing starts to make more sense. Take this out on us, we are used to it. It isn’t fair to take this out on your family and friends, especially because of something that you brought upon yourself.
Dealing With Your Indignant Self
While it may seem impossible to get rid of your anger, there are ways that you can deal with it. You have to become mentally stronger than you were before. You may need to avoid putting yourself in situations that normally trigger you to get a dip, or make you crave. Also, tell yourself all the time that you are quitting for yourself. Taking your anger out on other people doesn’t do any good and can damage relationships big time. Being cross or indignant helps no one and accomplishes nothing, that is why you need to get your anger under control.
In fact, you need to train yourself to have the mindset that you are quitting dip for yourself and not for anyone else. If you make the decision to quit because of your wife, family or friends. You’re going to resent the hell out of them every time yo feel the nic-rage coming on. If you quit for yourself, then you have no one else to be angry at or irritated with. You can then do whatever calms you down, whether it’s hitting golf balls, going to a shooting range, taking a run or anything else that gets that aggression out or relaxes you.
Personally, the heavy bag followed by a nice long run did the trick for me. But you need to find what works best for you.
It Does Go Away With Time
The good thing is that your irked self will eventually go away after quitting dip for long enough. How long it takes depends on the person and how long you were dipping in the first place. After the madness subsides, you may occasionally get a craving, but since you haven’t had one in a while the craving isn’t as strong so it’s easy to say no. You should feel more at peace with your life in general knowing that you are healthier you don’t need to be dipping to be happy or feel normal anymore. You will go through some hard times when you quit, but if you are strong enough to make it through the first few weeks or months, then your anger will cease and you will be a happier person in general. A free person.
The anger after quitting chewing tobacco was one of the hardest parts for me. It does pass, and your world gets a whole lot brighter. I thank the good lord I found a place like this every day.
Amen brother!
im at the anger part been angry for the past week now im like 4 weeks clean any suggestions to help me cope with my anger. last week i got pissed off just because somebody gave me a dirty look i used to never get pissed off before.
The ‘Anger’ has almost always been the reason I went back to chew. Today is my 2nd day of my first ever cold turkey quit. It’s also my “who know’s how many times I’ve quit” quit. I had a big anger break down today. I was on the highway, alone in my car. The traffic flow went from 75 mph to 1 mph. The 1 mph went on for five to seven miles, and that made me angry. I was so mad that someone had not paid attention to driving and gotten in an accident, that caused thousands of cars to crawl along for what seemed like eternity! I wanted to kill those fucking shitheads. Pay the fuck attention to driving and you won’t’ get in an accident that fucks everyones elses drive up! Oh yeah, that’s my anger. But did I care if they got hurt or killed? NOPE. I only cared about myself. Thing is, when I’m not enraged with anger, I care about others. If I was chewing I would have thought the entire traffic slowdown was normal and I would have been a bit upset, but not to the point I wanted to kill the people who caused it. I did eventually pass them, and they were fine. I surely would have liked to make them unfine! Oh, someday I won’t be consumed with this rage that makes me want to hurt others. I know it’s not me, it’s the withdrawal. It’s the addictive substance clearing out of me. I was lucky to be alone in my car, only the car behind me may have had questions, as they saw me in my rear view mirror saying F this and F that, and F F and F! They didn’t know I was changing my life for the better and by saying F a lot, I’d get there.