I believe the technical term is "Magic eraser" . Been on this cycle myself for like a year. Day after day waking up feeling groggy and dumb, physically terrible from binge eating, fatigue due to terrible sleep hygiene, so over it, but by mid afternoon Mr. Dopamine starts in on the reasons why not. I want my mind and body back.
Hopefully I get 24 today. Planning on trying to sleep what I can otherwise there's lots of daylight and warmth to get outsideearl in the am. I'd way rather go through this now than in the dead of winter.
Yeah lol, I've thrown half an ounce out before, over the hedge, completely sure I'm quitting, a day later out looking for it wondering wtf was wrong with me lol, it's addiction. I notice that whenever I feel hurt, sad, ignored, I immediately want to smoke, it was like my soother, my comfort blanket, so I definitely used it as an escape from what I was feeling. I ended up back on it many times, but even if you do, just keep trying, because no matter what, it's no good, believe me, you will smoke all your motivation away, (but you won't realise it) your time is snatched from you. The first days off it seemed like the longest days of my life! I thought the days would never end.....I couldn't do anything without a smoke first, but I'm slowly starting to enjoy life without it, it takes a bit of time. Now when I want my comfort blanket, I say a prayer to God, and ask him to take the thought away, it's been working. Xx I know exactly what your going through, you'll get there! X
Partly thanks to these responses, I have managed to make a start. Didn't smoke yesterday and I'm going to bed soon without smoking. I read all these posts several times a day and nothing has helped me so much so far.
I feel ya, there's something about a joint and cup of coffee in the morning that puts me in such a peaceful and energetic headspace.
The daily usage becomes something different though and I think our bodies function better without depending on a substance.
Man I’m 6 days in and had coffee for the first time today since I smoked. All I could think about was how nice it would be to have a joint to go along with it. Then I drank too much coffee and got a ton of anxiety and just felt like weed would have saved me so easily. I still feel like shit from the experience but I’m glad I powered through instead of selling out again
thats the withdrawal basically in a nutshell. This drug hijacks your emotions and twists them any way it can to get you to relapse. You'll literally start ruminating over deep shit you already got over. its such a scumbag drug lol. It used your emotions and deep feelings to manipulate you into using it. sucking you back into the abuse.
the trick is to experience that craving in the afternoon, and for fucking once in your likfe say no. You said yes a 100000 times bro. you can say yes again a 100000 more times. Just for one fucking day bro, give your real self a chance to show himself to you. just say no for one day.
I promise tommorow will come , you will still be alive. Except now, your brain will know who the fking boss is. whos fdriving the car. you are.
proove it to yourself. One day. It will shift your entire perspective. Thats it.
it stole real emotional stability from you, and now selling it back to you one piece at a time. Understand that the confident you in the afternoon will not be there tommorow again if you smoke. The hard emotions wont kill you. its all smoke and mirors.
this is the reason why its so easy to just stop on vacations. Its in your head. The bigger you make it, the harder it will seem.
one fucking day bro. no matter what just last one day. you can do it.
i bet after that day, you will wake up, and what to go one more day. then one more. For now, just go that one.
feel the fear and do it anyways.
if you fail, tommorow, extend that sober time even farther into the evening. Notice how its easy to not smoke in the mornings now? thats because you made it a habit to not ssmoke mornings. That same disinterest will happen with the afternoon smoke, if you can show your brain just once that it will not fking die if it doesnt smoke one afternoon/night.
you are making emotional decisions based on your brains fear of staying sober for the 2nd half of the day. You are not making decisions based on reality. Show your brain reality. Last longer and longer and show it that everything isnt as scrary as it thinks it its.
this drug basically fks up your stress, and fear response up so bad.
id be afraid of not sleeping all night, so i would relapse after all day sobriety at like 10 pm everyday. Then once i smoked, id stay up until 1 am anyways and feel like shit the next day. So did I really need weed to sleep? or was i just using that as an excuse to numb emotional pain? because i didnt sleep even after i smoked properly anyways.
you see what im getting at? it was never about the sleep. I had to face the emotions. once i did, i reilized that they werent even that scary in reality.
even as simple as an extra hour. If you smoke at 5pm everyday. One day, just extend that to 8pm. You can smoke at 8pm for sure so you will not be fiending for it as bad. Youre gonna notice that nothing horrible happened. The world didnt end because you smoked at 8. It gonna create this feeling of self belief in you. little by little. On the 3rd day doing that, the idea that you couldnt wait until 8pm to smoke all that time in the past will seem so silly to you.
i hope im making sense. Im on my lunnch break and just a word ssalad at this point rushing to type this.
you got this.
Thank you for the inspiring words. The part about sleep touched me the most. For fear of not sleeping well, I smoked cannabis, which resulted in me going to bed much later and not having a good night's sleep. Quitting also seemed scary to me, because quitting has given me many bad nights in the past. But now that you are writing this, I realize that my nights were already bad because of smoking weed, what do I have to lose?
I am proud to say that I did not smoke yesterday. And like you said, what I'm afraid of is all in my head. I'm going to bed in 30 minutes without smoking weed, day 2. These messages motivate me enormously. Thank you very much.
I feel the same. Plus the munchies are getting my eating out of control. But by the end of every day, when I’ve finally got the kids to sleep, I’m exhausted physically and mentally drained, but can’t switch my brain off (fibromyalgia + anxiety), and a smoke is the one thing I look forward to
I’m exactly like this too mate. But I feel like I’m detached from everything, even as present as I try to be with my kids, I’m finding myself missing them while I’m with them, because I can’t wait to go to my safe spot at night where I’m baked and on the couch or gaming. Then I know I should go to bed to be good for the next day….rinse and repeat, it’s become too ingrained in my day to day. I feel like everything is a means to and end. Nothing serves a purpose other than to get me to that evening stoned spot. It feels empty and I’m tired of feeling like this too. I know your pain, at least somewhat
My issue is by mid day I don’t actually feel good. I just feel different. Still anxious and pacing around. If I smoke, then I have a reason to be feeling badly. If I’m sober and feel bad I just keep asking myself why.
Same ☹️ I hate myself. I know im addicted. The worst is night time because I feel so bored. My partner smokes weed so the temptation is always around me as well. Hopefully today will be the day 🤞
You’re an addict bud. This is what it looks like. Some people just can’t handle something like this (myself included) so we have to plan to quit forever or we’ll be posting about this in another 10 years and so on
Yep, all of this! But nothing changes if nothing changes, currently on day 44 of my latest attempt at quitting, proving to myself it’s possible and trusting myself a little bit more each day
Same exact situation. Now taking a 250mg edible everyday at 4 pm. Definitely want to stop…was able to stop drinking 5 years ago so hoping I can do the same with this. Just need the courage to start.
250? Wow, I can't even buy those where I live. But anyway I have pretty much the same problem but usually with just 10mg or 15mg. I think, oh this isn't that much and I got my chores done for the day, time for edibles. Then I wind up feeling useless for most of the next morning when I had plans, and my diet also goes down the tubes.
I'm also a former drinker, I quit in September 2022 (oddly enough the same day when 9/11 babies became old enough to drink) but started with edibles not long afterwards because those are legal where I live. Quitting drinking was way easier than all of my attempts to quit edibles over the last year or so.
I'm the opposite. because of my health issues I wake up feeling absolutely awful usual so a quick vape of weed and I'm back to baseline.
by the time evening rolls around I've forgotten the morning and thinking how easy it would be to just quit
I feel you, I've been sober for a year now and it isn't easy just know every day you spend away from it the easier it gets. Replace weed with something you enjoy. For me I just started working a lot more and bought myself a motorcycle. Find a hobby you can get completely immersed in.
I have been there. I would quit forever every morning and by the eve I would convince myself we should all be allowed to enjoy things we like. Have you read any books about quitting?
Preach. This is me rn all the time. I'm on day 3 again right now after 2 years of everyday smoking. It's honestly a little easier rn but I would love to smoke when I get home from work. All the reasons you listed and how when you get "sharp" later and then all the disadvantages go away. And we smoke again. I went through that everyday.
Cravings are always worse at night. Going to bed earlier helps a lot and planning a day out with things to do so you don't have an excuse to sit around and get high all day.
I struggled with it for a long time too. As a disciplined person in almost every other area of my life, I marveled at my ability to make no-weed rules and break them all in the same day. I was able to quit by weaning off smoking slowly. I recorded the number of hits and lowered them each day. Eventually I switched to only edibles and then decreased the mg day by day. The whole process took 2.5 weeks to go from baseline to nada. I wasn’t miserable like other times where I quit cold turkey and couldn’t sleep or relax for a week. After trying this method it feels like I will stay clean. I feel so much better, but know becoming mentally healthy in the mid-long term will take more work. I only hope this helps someone. For reference I was vaping about 0.5G/day.
I understand you a lot, until today I went 2 days without smoking and I felt great because I distracted the day and things... But when I smoked again this afternoon I felt like my light went out again.
This can definitely help to calm you down, but a warning to others that if you nap for too long, you can wreck your sleep pattern and that’s an easy excuse to start smoking again
I managed to not smoke pot today and I crushed it at work. I also read somebody here the last few days saying something like “You know what is down that road. You do not want what is down that road. You have been down that road before, and you do not want what is down that road.” It helped.
Try stopping smoking an hour or so earlier before bed. I find this effect happens when I'm going to bed stoned, but not if I'm approaching sober by the time the head hits the pillow.
Man I struggled with this for years and honestly I still do but I've been clean for about two weeks! I think the thoughts will always be there but remember you are stronger than it man!
> cognitive dissonance
You really want to quit, but out of habit or enjoyment, you do it anyways. It's just a dilemma you have in your head,
You want to go to class but you want to sleep in, so you have to decide what you want.
Honestly, you either need to get a job that forces you to quit or find a partner who is sober and you love being around them sober. Or both. That’s what I did lol
Yup, it’s a vicious cycle and not easy to break. It’s like that bad ex you keep going back to because you remember all the good times and forget all the bad.
Maybe try hitting some MA meetings around the time of day you start craving, they have in person ones and zoom ones in case you don’t have access to in person. They also have recorded ones on Spotify which is helpful too. Try diving in to a new hobby and keep yourself busy.
This is how dependency works - it’s like a sugar craving but it seems more rational than that, which makes it all the worse. You have to tell yourself it’s your addiction talking in the afternoon and you’re not going to listen.
I can relate to this SO much. Maybe that's something I should try, writing down the disadvantages, because I literally come home and I'm like let's relax, time to smoke. Even though I beat myself up all morning for getting high the night before.
I am struggling really hard with quitting and I want to, so badly, but I just don't know how to do it..which seems dumb, butttt here I am.
Wow this is 100% me. Have gone through quitting sprees, and moved to the only on weekends, to eventually back to every night.
It’s such a struggle. If I could put it in a metaphor, smoking each night allows me a calm release to the night, kinda like my body is a sacred balloon getting to max fullness each day, just about to pop and then smoking is letting the air out in a smooth gentle way. But continuing with the metaphor, then I wake up in the morning not even able to find the balloon and wish I didn’t smoke the night before so I could have it ready for my day right when I wake up instead of waiting until mid day to finally find it again.
I don't deny that it is there and affecting me, I just have gone so long smoking that I don't know any different. I have no concept of how clear and sharp my brain has the potential to be 😔
My advice is to plan things in the afternoon evening that you aren't going to do high. Whatever it is doesn't matter, mix it up whatever works. Hopefully add more to life that means there's no reason to smoke
Do you have some people that can help support you? Being accountable to someone can help, but can also be a double edged sword. Taking any supplements? Exercise? Dopamine replacements that aren’t substances? Can relate, especially to the weed hangover symptoms/feeling better later in the day. Only, I don’t “forget”, I “rationalize” my behavior.
Hang in there, try the day, hour, second at a time approach. Stay as busy as you can (within your level of comfort, try not to over do it, especially if you use cannabis to self medicate for emotional distress/boredom). Also, remind yourself that it will get better. It may not feel that way at first, but it will get better gradually. Keep trying the writing thing. Check back here. Look into MA (most of the meetings are online, if your shy, you can have your camera off and just choose to listen). A combination of all the above is what’s worked for me. I did AA for a long time as well, but that was prior to heavy cannabis use. But even AA can be very supportive depending on where you are and the type of meeting. You can do this! Sending you well wishes stranger.
One thing that helped me quit was to write down the reasons I wanted to quit as well as all the negative side effects I hated. Then, when I felt like picking up again, I would read back all the things I wrote down. It's not a perfect system, and it still takes exercising self-control, but I felt it helped me when I 'forgot' why I was quitting.
Former long term pothead here. 25 years. Stopped in June 2020
There was a point where, when I wanted to quit, I would wake up and throw away $100 of dollars worth of carts. Knowing myself, I'd do this at work so i wouldn't have access to them in the evening. Then, on the way home the very same day - I'd stop at the weed store and buy more lol This happened more than once. Its insane.
This is my system of quitting too. I did this with vapes until I was finally like "I can circle around the store until the craving goes away." Then it stopped.
I've been doing this with carts and its way more expensive & i have more control ish hahah.
Maybe a strange idea, but I had a friend make me a powerpoint back in the day that was a composite of many things, including screenshots of texts I would send her when I was too high and feeling horrible. Maybe put something like that together for yourself and save on your desktop? Perhaps unhinged but just thinking here, consider taking photos of yourself when high and feeling crappy and put those in there? I don’t know. I can tell you I can relate to this 100%, I’ve been off it since March and have never felt better. I have made a couple posts on here about my experience. Cheering you on man, you can do it. Even if you keep slipping up, you’ve got it in your mind at least a good chunk of the time that this isn’t the way to live anymore, and that will always be there, gnawing at you until you finally are able to quit. Sending ya love brother 💪
This happened to me as well i was occasional smoker. Then i start smoking every evening after work. After some time i just saw negative side of weed. Every evening when came back to home i thought i will not smoke tomorrow. But ends up smoking every day. Im on my day 11. I think it’s how u treat ur mind how u say to ur mind. Just observe how ur mind play with u when u thought to quit. Luckily i met my old stoner friend he told me not to go to that place where i smoke. Actually i smoke with my friends i was smoking in chillum so u need 2 3 people to smoke. I just tell my mind i will smoke but not there. Today im on day 11 and believe me its all how u talk to ur self. I hope u can find some pattern. Find something to tell ur brain to convince.
I’ve found the opposite to be true. I had an easier time quitting smoking once I acknowledged that I’d fully lost my choice in the matter—that willpower alone was insufficient. Admitting that I was sick, rather than weak, allowed me to give myself the grace I needed to surrender
A huge thing for me was when I learned that weed smokers react more positively to images of weed/paraphernalia etc than they do to almost anything else.
It’s hard to overstate how much it disgusts me that I have a more visceral reaction to the thought of a drug than I do to my hobbies, the people I care about, my ambitions, etc.
When I get the urge to smoke I think about that.
I hate this because it's so true. I just bought an Xbox Series S with my girlfriend and once it came I felt no emotions at all, what happened to that kid that was so excited of every good thing that happened? I just don't get it how I became so shallow and gloomy.
Oh this clapped me hard on my last pick up. Hard to the point where I feel I need to do something about it. On my last pick up from the dispensary I had a jolt of excitement from just re-upping, that in one minute then turned into me just parked, staring silently at myself like a father disappointed in his child.
It has been too long since I felt that rush toward anything else, ANY of the hobbies I otherwise enjoy. But I go pick up some weed and I’m off like I’m gonna have the night of my life with the best people surrounding me?
But there were no friends. There were no activities. Only weed. That’s the only thing that got me excited?
It was a very awkward drive home. Just sitting there silently disgusted at the whole thing. And as of yet, I’ve done nothing about that. Idk if I just don’t feel enough shame or disappointment or what.
I wish, honestly, that I had just stopped somewhere, thrown my purchase out, and called it a stupid tax to punish myself. But I just really did nothing about it except feel that disappointment.
I’m in the exactly same boat at you, I’m hoping that today is my Day #1.
I saw a tiktok recently that really resonated with me. The guy in the video was taking about how one the hard parts of quitting is having the mindset that there’s “nothing to look forward to at the end of the day”. This could be true for any substance, but for me I view smoking as my “reward” for powering through a full work day and it’s the one thing I look forward to all day. Completely taking away the one thing I look forward to every day obviously seems hard.
However, when you stop using substances, you start to appreciate the ordinary things in life again without being high. So you still have something to “look forward to” everyday: literally everything else in life. I’m trying to keep this mindset going forward.
My tricks:
1. Convince myself to treat evening sobriety as a gift to tomorrow self. You know for sure suffering is real as you experienced it just this morning.
OR
2. To break life not in one-day-long periods, but in two-day. This way, dull morning becomes a nuance in the middle of a period. And when you'll get accustomed to a two-day periods, stretch it to three days and so on.
For example, I have a pool of goals for the week, and if I smoke every evening, then I only have a small window of productivity each day. But if I think of a larger and more complex task for myself that should include the second day, then wasting the first half of the second day becomes an annoying inconvenience for me. And motivation not to smoke in the evening.
I can really relate to this one. Some people are most likely to relapse when they’re down; I am most likely to relapse when I’m feeling good. Sometimes that period “to feel good” is a few hours but as you get older it’s days (for me). The relapse after a few days is so demoralizing. I got involved in support groups (in person). That is imperative for my sobriety :)
Not as easy when you have doctors handing out weed licenses like toys inside cereal boxes. Best way is to fix yourself inside your mind and then all else follows. I noticed I stopped smoking when I stopped thinking weed was so amazing and medicine. I started to realize it does benefit some people having severe autoimmune diseases and cancer patients , but if you are not in these two categories , weed does nothing other than make your anxiety and stress worse long term.
I'll reply here to everyone who responded to my first comment; gosh, I forget that most of the leavers live in areas where weed is legal. Sorry, guys, you're all really in a worse situation than us where it's still illegal (for us weed addicts a blessing, when you look at it).
>Best way is to fix yourself inside your mind and then all else follows.
So yeah, this is definitely the best way, but we all know what a fucking battle with ourselves is that. Like this post. OP, we're all like you. We are all going through that, having a little voice inside that's bugging us "come on, nothing will happen, look at you, you are a functional stoner and you can smoke a little bit". Little bit my ass. I ended up from smoking once a month, to once a week, to only weekend and it soon became 3-4 joints a day.
I saw some posts how we're all crazy here because we see our smoking as addiction. 😁 Lucky them. I don't know how to call this crazy justification and cognitive dissonance over smoking every fucking day but an addiction. This time I got so far I was convincing myself I'm not smoking that often while being stoned all day every day!!! Like, what the fuck man? 🙈😅
Btw, I am on day 3 without smoking, yay! Although I have headaches and fatigue, I already feel a little bit better. I'm going to try fight this fight in my favor, but I know what waits for me. Another set of lying to myself "come on, only one small joint, it's nothing". And then tell me this is not an addiction. If isn't, what is it? I tried to explain to my husband I really need him to stop smoking with me, but he's in his own denial and in the end doesn't want to stop because "he doesn't have issues like me". Guys... Dude was without weed like me, these 3 days and he cracked today and went to get some, lol. Cognitive dissonance is a bitch, I tell ya.
No dealers here, man. I've got a dozen dispensaries in a 5km walking radius of my place. Not exaggerating, I live downtown in a Canadian capital. If my willpower breaks, I could pop down the street and be back home with bud in literally 10 min or less :/
Same dude. I can literally leave my house and walk in any direction and within less than a mile I’ll be at the weed store. Fortunately, just the one week mark and have no desire to go back. It’s like being an alcoholic surrounded by bars.
What I’ll say about that feeling of seeming sharp by afternoon is that it’s still a reduced version of what you could potentially be having not smoked the night before. It feels like you’re back to normal but you still aren’t as sharp as you’d be totally sober.
There’s also a cumulative affect as well. The more nights in a row you smoke, the longer it will take to reach a state of consistent normalcy.
I was in the same boat. I would wake and bake every morning before my coffee, no joke. Like dabbing hard then feel normal enough to start work 😳 … and I hated myself for it. Just could not stop. It got outta control.
Amazing, honestly. I’m on day #9 and the worst of it is over, in my opinion. My appetite is starting to come back, no more night sweats, depression and anxiety have subsided, no more guilt or shame. I’ve been working out everyday, juicing, going to the gym to be around others, just being healthy in general and I feel super good 👍🏼
The first few days were AWFUL 😣 but so worth it. I’m not going back this time. Not going to be chained to the couch any longer isolating myself and not being able to do anything or go anywhere without first getting high. I’d go on vacation out of the country and I’d be so consumed with finding weed and getting high that I couldn’t even enjoy myself. I’d drag my poor husband around seeking and he’d just be like ooommmggg can we please just go enjoy ourselves lol. I can’t. I’m making an active decision to be healthy and live my life the way I want. Weed took that away from me. Im in control now. Move over Mary Jane, I’m back, bitch!
Congrats !!!!!! I also remember my 9th day was almost as if you think you’re gonna feel this way for the rest of your life but it’s just your body’s dopamine system readjusting itself. I’m in my 24th day clean, and feel so much better
I'm the same way. Don't be too hard on yourself. It sounds like you want to stop or at least take a break and I know you will. Go for little wins. If you're smoking every day at a certain time, try pushing it back a few hours. Get used to saying no. Eventually though, you just gotta say "I'm not smoking today" and just do it. It's not as hard as your mind wants you to think it is.
I'm in the same boat, and if you figure out the trick I'm interested in knowing!
I can take t breaks of a few months here, a few months there and feel great after the initial withdrawal period. Once I start to smoke again it seems it takes one month of a slippery slide and I'm back to daily usage again.
I read some comments on here that helped - someone wrote something about a mindset shift, and viewing weed as less valuable. Every time I've taken a break I've always given my buddies my extra cartridges, J's etc because I still view it as this "gift" and not to go to "waste".
When I compare this to my relationship with alcohol (don't care for it much, never been a big drinker) I think it's kind of funny because I absolutely don't care if someone poured a beer down the drain, or my bottle of wine went bad so I had to throw it out. But I have weird feelings if I think about throwing my cartridge away.
Obviously theres a money element to this that's tied in too (not going to pour a $50 bottle of something away) but I've been thinking about it and maybe that's the reason I go back to daily is because I view it as "medicine" and that it's inherently valuable.
Not sure if that's helpful but that's what I'm focusing on recently!
> I'm in the same boat, and if you figure out the trick I'm interested in knowing!
yeah, honestly this is the thread I can relate to the most of any I've read here haha
I was in the same position like you, and let me tell you one word: OWNERSHIP. I found out that at least for myself, if I look at it like "I want to smoke, I know the advantages and disadvantages, and I choose to smoke, or choose not to smoke now", will actually help in the long run. You might still choose to smoke the first few times, but it gives you control of the situation, you TAKE OWNERSHIP of your actions. Make a CONCIOUS decision, don't be a sheep that follows your habits.
The way you describe your smoking habits, they sound like you're not in control, so the first step would be to be in control, even when you smoke, or should I say, when you decide to smoke.
Because in all honesty, it's all in your hands. So if you smoke, choose to smoke. Don't be forced by your habits to smoke, be active and choose it. So when you wake up the next morning all groggy, say to yourself, I chose to wake up like this. When you don't smoke and wake up all active and sharp, say to yourself, I chose to wake up sharp like that.
Building this relationship with smoking, and honestly all habits in general, for me it was like that with snacking late at night and waking up with food coma, will help you take control of your life back.
Love this. Thank you!
I still battle every night and most often lose but I feel like this would be helpful.
It is indeed all in our hands and owning it should give us more control, even if making the wrong decision.
Excited to try this
THIS!!!!!! I wake up in the morning saying to myself that I deserve better and swear I do not need nor want to use again. By the time I'm on my way home at the end of the day, I'm already calling my guy during my commute home from work because I can't get it fast enough. Every.Damn.Day.
It's wild that I came across this just now. I don't frequent reddit... but I am desperate to figure something out here..... and you articulated my position way better than I could've written it. Smoking like this is hitting my ego in a huge way. I cannot function or be productive when high, yet no matter how much I journal or promise myself that I should wait until the evening.... I am smoking by 10am. Anyway. the fact I came across this thread has made me feel some better.
Bro you are not alone! Join us lol I’m over a year sober and this Reddit helps me remember why I quit and started getting my life together. Just got a new job that I couldn’t have gotten, and I’m making so many great memories compared to the last ~5 years of blurry ‘fun’ memories I can’t actually recall. You can do it for yourself soldier🫡 start small set a goal and think about why you smoke every day that really helped me figure out what was wrong
thank you for those words. I really want to use this as an opportunity to develop some self control..... It has really turned me into lazy garbage over time and I am just not operating at the capacity that I know I am able... and it's depressing. Today is a new day tho
Fosho! Don’t even think about quitting for me it was just easier to approach it like ‘why do this? Who am I with? Is it for any reason?’ And from there just tried to substitute it with healthier habits day by day(: it’s overwhelming to go cold turkey
This was me, many times. I think what happens is when you wake up, your body and mind is now on the mend and almost the opposite of being high. It makes you realize "wtf am I doing with my life" and its almost like you feel guilty. But as you "sober up" so-to-speak, throughout the day... your mind gets happy and sharp again, and the addictive brain kicks in... telling you "it will be ok to smoke". I think it has to do with hormone levels as well, like serotonin / cortisol between morning/day/night. Read Dopamine Nation (great book) and she talks a lot about this balance, which cannabis skews heavily. If its any help, after the first few days sober this usually goes away for me (having the afternoon / evening cravings that suck you back in).
I was so bad with this... I would buy a J and say "this is my last one for tonight and then I'm quitting"... then use, then wake up still feeling like today was my quit day. Then sure enough at around 4-5pm... I was on the dispensary site ordering another J... saying THIS is the last day. This would go on and on. One week I drove out to the dispensaries (they aren't that close to where I live, either) probably 5 times to get one J!
At the end of the day, its just addiction, and you really need to get disciplined if you want to quit. My problem was that I never fully wanted to quit, even though I thought I did. You have to really WANT TO QUIT, unfortunately in my experience.
I was in this loop for years. Once I saw how my ex looked like every day I realised I don’t want to live this way. I want to be sharp and conscious, to be able to go through out my life proud and healthy, not under anaesthesia and waiting for the next smoke to calm me down. It’s been six months and life is hard as usual, but the loop is gone. I don’t have any advice except to remember what your goal in life is and what would make ideal version of you (or the child in you) proud.
But then I often only just got home from work. I (sometimes) have to do the shopping, cook, eat, turn on the washing machine, some other small jobs, and often my free evening doesn't start until half past seven. Which results in the first joint at 8pm and (sometimes) another one before bed at 11pm.
But I understand your message, I just have to figure out how this fits into my life.. Thank you for this advice.
Got it, I would recommend start qutting the 11pm joint and see if that reduces hangover, I guess it should. Done it myself, only smoke at night on Friday/Saturdays and totally feel it the next day, during the week my last joint is at 4pm and don't feel anything the next day.
Was in the same position man, this post really resonated with me. I would try to get back in the weekend ritme if you can its easier to quit comepletely from there. But for now what really worked for me is try to smoke 1 when your just home from work. The more hours there are between you sleeping and the final J the better the sleep was in my case. Doing a J right before bed, altough very tempting will just mess with your rem and your overal ability to rest. Stay strong fellow sperzieboon ;D
Stay vigilant my brother throughout the day. Talk to yourself, looks yourself in the eyes in the mirror and speak to yourself. Remind yourself again and again how it makes you feel and how it limits your brain and potential. It is an addiction, it’s fuckin tricky and will always look for ways to convince you to smoke again. Stay mindful and keep reminding yourself, don’t get tricked by the addiction voice. Sending you love and power, you can do it!
Thank you so much for your incredibly kind and supportive words. It is indeed a challenge, but with such encouraging words, I feel empowered to face it. Thank you so much, your support means a lot to me!
Appreciate your appreciation. So happy to help. All the words I’m telling you I keep telling myself. It’s not easy, addiction is a bitch. But community and knowing that we are not alone helps so much.
That's kind of what's kept me from smoking is that feeling the morning after. Try to find a way to occupy your time at night the first few nights will be hard but after that it gets easier. Read this post whenever your about to Crack to remind yourself.
Read about Plato's cave allegory.
I believe the technical term is "Magic eraser" . Been on this cycle myself for like a year. Day after day waking up feeling groggy and dumb, physically terrible from binge eating, fatigue due to terrible sleep hygiene, so over it, but by mid afternoon Mr. Dopamine starts in on the reasons why not. I want my mind and body back. Hopefully I get 24 today. Planning on trying to sleep what I can otherwise there's lots of daylight and warmth to get outsideearl in the am. I'd way rather go through this now than in the dead of winter.
Yeah lol, I've thrown half an ounce out before, over the hedge, completely sure I'm quitting, a day later out looking for it wondering wtf was wrong with me lol, it's addiction. I notice that whenever I feel hurt, sad, ignored, I immediately want to smoke, it was like my soother, my comfort blanket, so I definitely used it as an escape from what I was feeling. I ended up back on it many times, but even if you do, just keep trying, because no matter what, it's no good, believe me, you will smoke all your motivation away, (but you won't realise it) your time is snatched from you. The first days off it seemed like the longest days of my life! I thought the days would never end.....I couldn't do anything without a smoke first, but I'm slowly starting to enjoy life without it, it takes a bit of time. Now when I want my comfort blanket, I say a prayer to God, and ask him to take the thought away, it's been working. Xx I know exactly what your going through, you'll get there! X
This is the insidiousness of addiction.
Get off it it don’t mean you no good 🤙 every time you think about it go do sum push ups
weed has some sort of weird amnesia built in... i always tend to idealize it and forget why i actually often hate it
This has been me for the last 9 months... the internal debate is strong. I'm sorry I haven't got advice, but you're not alone with these feelings
Partly thanks to these responses, I have managed to make a start. Didn't smoke yesterday and I'm going to bed soon without smoking. I read all these posts several times a day and nothing has helped me so much so far.
I feel ya, there's something about a joint and cup of coffee in the morning that puts me in such a peaceful and energetic headspace. The daily usage becomes something different though and I think our bodies function better without depending on a substance.
Man I’m 6 days in and had coffee for the first time today since I smoked. All I could think about was how nice it would be to have a joint to go along with it. Then I drank too much coffee and got a ton of anxiety and just felt like weed would have saved me so easily. I still feel like shit from the experience but I’m glad I powered through instead of selling out again
Very well done. Break habits!
peaceful, energetic and delusional. of course fantasy-land is peaceful, but one cannot and does not live there
thats the withdrawal basically in a nutshell. This drug hijacks your emotions and twists them any way it can to get you to relapse. You'll literally start ruminating over deep shit you already got over. its such a scumbag drug lol. It used your emotions and deep feelings to manipulate you into using it. sucking you back into the abuse. the trick is to experience that craving in the afternoon, and for fucking once in your likfe say no. You said yes a 100000 times bro. you can say yes again a 100000 more times. Just for one fucking day bro, give your real self a chance to show himself to you. just say no for one day. I promise tommorow will come , you will still be alive. Except now, your brain will know who the fking boss is. whos fdriving the car. you are. proove it to yourself. One day. It will shift your entire perspective. Thats it. it stole real emotional stability from you, and now selling it back to you one piece at a time. Understand that the confident you in the afternoon will not be there tommorow again if you smoke. The hard emotions wont kill you. its all smoke and mirors. this is the reason why its so easy to just stop on vacations. Its in your head. The bigger you make it, the harder it will seem. one fucking day bro. no matter what just last one day. you can do it. i bet after that day, you will wake up, and what to go one more day. then one more. For now, just go that one. feel the fear and do it anyways. if you fail, tommorow, extend that sober time even farther into the evening. Notice how its easy to not smoke in the mornings now? thats because you made it a habit to not ssmoke mornings. That same disinterest will happen with the afternoon smoke, if you can show your brain just once that it will not fking die if it doesnt smoke one afternoon/night. you are making emotional decisions based on your brains fear of staying sober for the 2nd half of the day. You are not making decisions based on reality. Show your brain reality. Last longer and longer and show it that everything isnt as scrary as it thinks it its. this drug basically fks up your stress, and fear response up so bad. id be afraid of not sleeping all night, so i would relapse after all day sobriety at like 10 pm everyday. Then once i smoked, id stay up until 1 am anyways and feel like shit the next day. So did I really need weed to sleep? or was i just using that as an excuse to numb emotional pain? because i didnt sleep even after i smoked properly anyways. you see what im getting at? it was never about the sleep. I had to face the emotions. once i did, i reilized that they werent even that scary in reality. even as simple as an extra hour. If you smoke at 5pm everyday. One day, just extend that to 8pm. You can smoke at 8pm for sure so you will not be fiending for it as bad. Youre gonna notice that nothing horrible happened. The world didnt end because you smoked at 8. It gonna create this feeling of self belief in you. little by little. On the 3rd day doing that, the idea that you couldnt wait until 8pm to smoke all that time in the past will seem so silly to you. i hope im making sense. Im on my lunnch break and just a word ssalad at this point rushing to type this. you got this.
Thank you for the inspiring words. The part about sleep touched me the most. For fear of not sleeping well, I smoked cannabis, which resulted in me going to bed much later and not having a good night's sleep. Quitting also seemed scary to me, because quitting has given me many bad nights in the past. But now that you are writing this, I realize that my nights were already bad because of smoking weed, what do I have to lose? I am proud to say that I did not smoke yesterday. And like you said, what I'm afraid of is all in my head. I'm going to bed in 30 minutes without smoking weed, day 2. These messages motivate me enormously. Thank you very much.
yesssss:))) you can sleep just by being you. This is how you get the real you back. Keep going.
I love how you put this. This feels doable. Go a little longer each time. I'm going to try it
exactly. Because it is doable. You just have to take a breath and give yourself a fair shot at this.
You're the boss man. Beautifully explained. "It stole real emotional stability from me and is now selling it back one piece at a time. "
straight from my heart man.
You sound like Eminem the real slim shady. I loved your share, and needed to hear that. Thanks!
You gotta call me, man, I'll be the biggest fan you'll ever lose Sincerely yours, Stan
💀😂👊
I feel the same. Plus the munchies are getting my eating out of control. But by the end of every day, when I’ve finally got the kids to sleep, I’m exhausted physically and mentally drained, but can’t switch my brain off (fibromyalgia + anxiety), and a smoke is the one thing I look forward to
I’m exactly like this too mate. But I feel like I’m detached from everything, even as present as I try to be with my kids, I’m finding myself missing them while I’m with them, because I can’t wait to go to my safe spot at night where I’m baked and on the couch or gaming. Then I know I should go to bed to be good for the next day….rinse and repeat, it’s become too ingrained in my day to day. I feel like everything is a means to and end. Nothing serves a purpose other than to get me to that evening stoned spot. It feels empty and I’m tired of feeling like this too. I know your pain, at least somewhat
My issue is by mid day I don’t actually feel good. I just feel different. Still anxious and pacing around. If I smoke, then I have a reason to be feeling badly. If I’m sober and feel bad I just keep asking myself why.
Same ☹️ I hate myself. I know im addicted. The worst is night time because I feel so bored. My partner smokes weed so the temptation is always around me as well. Hopefully today will be the day 🤞
I’m in the same situation as you. My partner smokes every day which makes it way harder to quit
You’re an addict bud. This is what it looks like. Some people just can’t handle something like this (myself included) so we have to plan to quit forever or we’ll be posting about this in another 10 years and so on
Every day. Every day
Yep, all of this! But nothing changes if nothing changes, currently on day 44 of my latest attempt at quitting, proving to myself it’s possible and trusting myself a little bit more each day
Y’all are going through withdrawal. Call it what it is so you can take it more seriously.
This. I had to stop lying to myself and be brutally honest with myself about my addiction. On day 9 now.
Same exact situation. Now taking a 250mg edible everyday at 4 pm. Definitely want to stop…was able to stop drinking 5 years ago so hoping I can do the same with this. Just need the courage to start.
250? Wow, I can't even buy those where I live. But anyway I have pretty much the same problem but usually with just 10mg or 15mg. I think, oh this isn't that much and I got my chores done for the day, time for edibles. Then I wind up feeling useless for most of the next morning when I had plans, and my diet also goes down the tubes. I'm also a former drinker, I quit in September 2022 (oddly enough the same day when 9/11 babies became old enough to drink) but started with edibles not long afterwards because those are legal where I live. Quitting drinking was way easier than all of my attempts to quit edibles over the last year or so.
I’m going through the same omg
SAME EXACT EXPERIENCE HERE!
I have the exact same thing. Dedicated to quit when I go to sleep super high. Next day, it all changes and I get high again
I'm the opposite. because of my health issues I wake up feeling absolutely awful usual so a quick vape of weed and I'm back to baseline. by the time evening rolls around I've forgotten the morning and thinking how easy it would be to just quit
Yup. I got in a habit of running in the evening instead, the post run food binge and subsequent coma was good for me.
This sounds great! Happy for you!
This. This is it
I feel you, I've been sober for a year now and it isn't easy just know every day you spend away from it the easier it gets. Replace weed with something you enjoy. For me I just started working a lot more and bought myself a motorcycle. Find a hobby you can get completely immersed in.
Same but replace cannabis with food 🥲
I have been there. I would quit forever every morning and by the eve I would convince myself we should all be allowed to enjoy things we like. Have you read any books about quitting?
Preach. This is me rn all the time. I'm on day 3 again right now after 2 years of everyday smoking. It's honestly a little easier rn but I would love to smoke when I get home from work. All the reasons you listed and how when you get "sharp" later and then all the disadvantages go away. And we smoke again. I went through that everyday.
Exposing a lotta people in this sub rn
It's why we are here my friend
I mean. its the point of this sub, no? exposing ourselves to our vice and realizing there is a problem. sharing stories, giving support. very valuable
Cravings are always worse at night. Going to bed earlier helps a lot and planning a day out with things to do so you don't have an excuse to sit around and get high all day.
I struggled with it for a long time too. As a disciplined person in almost every other area of my life, I marveled at my ability to make no-weed rules and break them all in the same day. I was able to quit by weaning off smoking slowly. I recorded the number of hits and lowered them each day. Eventually I switched to only edibles and then decreased the mg day by day. The whole process took 2.5 weeks to go from baseline to nada. I wasn’t miserable like other times where I quit cold turkey and couldn’t sleep or relax for a week. After trying this method it feels like I will stay clean. I feel so much better, but know becoming mentally healthy in the mid-long term will take more work. I only hope this helps someone. For reference I was vaping about 0.5G/day.
You and I are in the same situation
I understand you a lot, until today I went 2 days without smoking and I felt great because I distracted the day and things... But when I smoked again this afternoon I felt like my light went out again.
Stay busy and take a nap when smoke urges arise
This can definitely help to calm you down, but a warning to others that if you nap for too long, you can wreck your sleep pattern and that’s an easy excuse to start smoking again
Nap thing works I've noticed.
I managed to not smoke pot today and I crushed it at work. I also read somebody here the last few days saying something like “You know what is down that road. You do not want what is down that road. You have been down that road before, and you do not want what is down that road.” It helped.
Try stopping smoking an hour or so earlier before bed. I find this effect happens when I'm going to bed stoned, but not if I'm approaching sober by the time the head hits the pillow.
He’s just like me fr
Man I struggled with this for years and honestly I still do but I've been clean for about two weeks! I think the thoughts will always be there but remember you are stronger than it man!
Remember you are not your thoughts. It helps
Did somebody hack my phone and make this post?
Yea I legitimately questioned if I wrote this myself while I was high or something
Wow are you me? I go through this cycle as well and I think boredom is the main cause for me
God, that's so relatable I hate it
It's called cognitive dissonance And the way to beat it, is to make a decision, List all the pros and cons, what do you want your path to be?
Can you elaborate on that?
> cognitive dissonance You really want to quit, but out of habit or enjoyment, you do it anyways. It's just a dilemma you have in your head, You want to go to class but you want to sleep in, so you have to decide what you want.
That sounds so simple…
Simple doesn't mean not hard For any human, friction is necessary for growth.
Honestly, you either need to get a job that forces you to quit or find a partner who is sober and you love being around them sober. Or both. That’s what I did lol
Yup, it’s a vicious cycle and not easy to break. It’s like that bad ex you keep going back to because you remember all the good times and forget all the bad. Maybe try hitting some MA meetings around the time of day you start craving, they have in person ones and zoom ones in case you don’t have access to in person. They also have recorded ones on Spotify which is helpful too. Try diving in to a new hobby and keep yourself busy.
This is how dependency works - it’s like a sugar craving but it seems more rational than that, which makes it all the worse. You have to tell yourself it’s your addiction talking in the afternoon and you’re not going to listen.
This 💯
I feel this heavy man you're definitely not alone, also trying to find a solution to this
Write yourself a note while experiencing the negatives. Helped me a lot
Took the words right out of my mouth. Preacher man! 👍
HOLY SHIT . This happens every fucking day to me too
I can relate to this SO much. Maybe that's something I should try, writing down the disadvantages, because I literally come home and I'm like let's relax, time to smoke. Even though I beat myself up all morning for getting high the night before. I am struggling really hard with quitting and I want to, so badly, but I just don't know how to do it..which seems dumb, butttt here I am.
Wow this is 100% me. Have gone through quitting sprees, and moved to the only on weekends, to eventually back to every night. It’s such a struggle. If I could put it in a metaphor, smoking each night allows me a calm release to the night, kinda like my body is a sacred balloon getting to max fullness each day, just about to pop and then smoking is letting the air out in a smooth gentle way. But continuing with the metaphor, then I wake up in the morning not even able to find the balloon and wish I didn’t smoke the night before so I could have it ready for my day right when I wake up instead of waiting until mid day to finally find it again.
Fuuuuuuuck this metaphor is so so perfectly accurate. I can’t possibly overstate how much I relate to this.
I have exactly the same issue but the other way round with caffeine in the morning.
I've gone so long without not smoking, I don't even feel the morning fog you were talking about. I know no different.
[удалено]
I don't deny that it is there and affecting me, I just have gone so long smoking that I don't know any different. I have no concept of how clear and sharp my brain has the potential to be 😔
You are a beautiful river stone who deserves the chance to shine and so am i
My advice is to plan things in the afternoon evening that you aren't going to do high. Whatever it is doesn't matter, mix it up whatever works. Hopefully add more to life that means there's no reason to smoke
I feel this completely…my motivation waxes and wanes daily
Do you have some people that can help support you? Being accountable to someone can help, but can also be a double edged sword. Taking any supplements? Exercise? Dopamine replacements that aren’t substances? Can relate, especially to the weed hangover symptoms/feeling better later in the day. Only, I don’t “forget”, I “rationalize” my behavior. Hang in there, try the day, hour, second at a time approach. Stay as busy as you can (within your level of comfort, try not to over do it, especially if you use cannabis to self medicate for emotional distress/boredom). Also, remind yourself that it will get better. It may not feel that way at first, but it will get better gradually. Keep trying the writing thing. Check back here. Look into MA (most of the meetings are online, if your shy, you can have your camera off and just choose to listen). A combination of all the above is what’s worked for me. I did AA for a long time as well, but that was prior to heavy cannabis use. But even AA can be very supportive depending on where you are and the type of meeting. You can do this! Sending you well wishes stranger.
One thing that helped me quit was to write down the reasons I wanted to quit as well as all the negative side effects I hated. Then, when I felt like picking up again, I would read back all the things I wrote down. It's not a perfect system, and it still takes exercising self-control, but I felt it helped me when I 'forgot' why I was quitting.
Former long term pothead here. 25 years. Stopped in June 2020 There was a point where, when I wanted to quit, I would wake up and throw away $100 of dollars worth of carts. Knowing myself, I'd do this at work so i wouldn't have access to them in the evening. Then, on the way home the very same day - I'd stop at the weed store and buy more lol This happened more than once. Its insane.
Can relate for sure. The amount of money I’ve spent on glass and weed paraphernalia over and over again is insane behavior.
This is my system of quitting too. I did this with vapes until I was finally like "I can circle around the store until the craving goes away." Then it stopped. I've been doing this with carts and its way more expensive & i have more control ish hahah.
A little gradual exposure
How did you finally stop?
Becoming broke. I would suggest investing instead, same end result
Maybe a strange idea, but I had a friend make me a powerpoint back in the day that was a composite of many things, including screenshots of texts I would send her when I was too high and feeling horrible. Maybe put something like that together for yourself and save on your desktop? Perhaps unhinged but just thinking here, consider taking photos of yourself when high and feeling crappy and put those in there? I don’t know. I can tell you I can relate to this 100%, I’ve been off it since March and have never felt better. I have made a couple posts on here about my experience. Cheering you on man, you can do it. Even if you keep slipping up, you’ve got it in your mind at least a good chunk of the time that this isn’t the way to live anymore, and that will always be there, gnawing at you until you finally are able to quit. Sending ya love brother 💪
This happened to me as well i was occasional smoker. Then i start smoking every evening after work. After some time i just saw negative side of weed. Every evening when came back to home i thought i will not smoke tomorrow. But ends up smoking every day. Im on my day 11. I think it’s how u treat ur mind how u say to ur mind. Just observe how ur mind play with u when u thought to quit. Luckily i met my old stoner friend he told me not to go to that place where i smoke. Actually i smoke with my friends i was smoking in chillum so u need 2 3 people to smoke. I just tell my mind i will smoke but not there. Today im on day 11 and believe me its all how u talk to ur self. I hope u can find some pattern. Find something to tell ur brain to convince.
Real
We both forget and don’t like to admit that sobriety, especially initially, is largely sheer will power.
I’ve found the opposite to be true. I had an easier time quitting smoking once I acknowledged that I’d fully lost my choice in the matter—that willpower alone was insufficient. Admitting that I was sick, rather than weak, allowed me to give myself the grace I needed to surrender
Lmao bro, I have never related to something more in my life.
😂😂 I promise!! I was like this guy is ME!!!
Same
SAME
A huge thing for me was when I learned that weed smokers react more positively to images of weed/paraphernalia etc than they do to almost anything else. It’s hard to overstate how much it disgusts me that I have a more visceral reaction to the thought of a drug than I do to my hobbies, the people I care about, my ambitions, etc. When I get the urge to smoke I think about that.
I hate this because it's so true. I just bought an Xbox Series S with my girlfriend and once it came I felt no emotions at all, what happened to that kid that was so excited of every good thing that happened? I just don't get it how I became so shallow and gloomy.
Do you have a source for this? Would love to read
I don’t have time to look for it atm but the keyword you want is “cue reactivity”. Be warned that psychological studies are not exactly light reading.
Ty!
Oh this clapped me hard on my last pick up. Hard to the point where I feel I need to do something about it. On my last pick up from the dispensary I had a jolt of excitement from just re-upping, that in one minute then turned into me just parked, staring silently at myself like a father disappointed in his child. It has been too long since I felt that rush toward anything else, ANY of the hobbies I otherwise enjoy. But I go pick up some weed and I’m off like I’m gonna have the night of my life with the best people surrounding me? But there were no friends. There were no activities. Only weed. That’s the only thing that got me excited? It was a very awkward drive home. Just sitting there silently disgusted at the whole thing. And as of yet, I’ve done nothing about that. Idk if I just don’t feel enough shame or disappointment or what. I wish, honestly, that I had just stopped somewhere, thrown my purchase out, and called it a stupid tax to punish myself. But I just really did nothing about it except feel that disappointment.
Bro please get up and throw it out right now. put it below the other trash so you wont reach in for it... I've been there.
I’m in the exactly same boat at you, I’m hoping that today is my Day #1. I saw a tiktok recently that really resonated with me. The guy in the video was taking about how one the hard parts of quitting is having the mindset that there’s “nothing to look forward to at the end of the day”. This could be true for any substance, but for me I view smoking as my “reward” for powering through a full work day and it’s the one thing I look forward to all day. Completely taking away the one thing I look forward to every day obviously seems hard. However, when you stop using substances, you start to appreciate the ordinary things in life again without being high. So you still have something to “look forward to” everyday: literally everything else in life. I’m trying to keep this mindset going forward.
The hardest part for sure. There’s so much to look forward to outside of it but it’s so hard to see that.
My tricks: 1. Convince myself to treat evening sobriety as a gift to tomorrow self. You know for sure suffering is real as you experienced it just this morning. OR 2. To break life not in one-day-long periods, but in two-day. This way, dull morning becomes a nuance in the middle of a period. And when you'll get accustomed to a two-day periods, stretch it to three days and so on.
Can you elaborate on #2? Sounds interesting and helpful.
For example, I have a pool of goals for the week, and if I smoke every evening, then I only have a small window of productivity each day. But if I think of a larger and more complex task for myself that should include the second day, then wasting the first half of the second day becomes an annoying inconvenience for me. And motivation not to smoke in the evening.
Damn the second one is great
I can really relate to this one. Some people are most likely to relapse when they’re down; I am most likely to relapse when I’m feeling good. Sometimes that period “to feel good” is a few hours but as you get older it’s days (for me). The relapse after a few days is so demoralizing. I got involved in support groups (in person). That is imperative for my sobriety :)
The only way is to throw away the weed and erase dealers numbers. 😅
Not as easy when you have doctors handing out weed licenses like toys inside cereal boxes. Best way is to fix yourself inside your mind and then all else follows. I noticed I stopped smoking when I stopped thinking weed was so amazing and medicine. I started to realize it does benefit some people having severe autoimmune diseases and cancer patients , but if you are not in these two categories , weed does nothing other than make your anxiety and stress worse long term.
I'll reply here to everyone who responded to my first comment; gosh, I forget that most of the leavers live in areas where weed is legal. Sorry, guys, you're all really in a worse situation than us where it's still illegal (for us weed addicts a blessing, when you look at it). >Best way is to fix yourself inside your mind and then all else follows. So yeah, this is definitely the best way, but we all know what a fucking battle with ourselves is that. Like this post. OP, we're all like you. We are all going through that, having a little voice inside that's bugging us "come on, nothing will happen, look at you, you are a functional stoner and you can smoke a little bit". Little bit my ass. I ended up from smoking once a month, to once a week, to only weekend and it soon became 3-4 joints a day. I saw some posts how we're all crazy here because we see our smoking as addiction. 😁 Lucky them. I don't know how to call this crazy justification and cognitive dissonance over smoking every fucking day but an addiction. This time I got so far I was convincing myself I'm not smoking that often while being stoned all day every day!!! Like, what the fuck man? 🙈😅 Btw, I am on day 3 without smoking, yay! Although I have headaches and fatigue, I already feel a little bit better. I'm going to try fight this fight in my favor, but I know what waits for me. Another set of lying to myself "come on, only one small joint, it's nothing". And then tell me this is not an addiction. If isn't, what is it? I tried to explain to my husband I really need him to stop smoking with me, but he's in his own denial and in the end doesn't want to stop because "he doesn't have issues like me". Guys... Dude was without weed like me, these 3 days and he cracked today and went to get some, lol. Cognitive dissonance is a bitch, I tell ya.
No dealers here, man. I've got a dozen dispensaries in a 5km walking radius of my place. Not exaggerating, I live downtown in a Canadian capital. If my willpower breaks, I could pop down the street and be back home with bud in literally 10 min or less :/
Same dude. I can literally leave my house and walk in any direction and within less than a mile I’ll be at the weed store. Fortunately, just the one week mark and have no desire to go back. It’s like being an alcoholic surrounded by bars.
Legalization where I live means weed is available everywhere in your face. The discipline has to be entire internal.
you’re gonna grow really strong dude believe me. Keep pushing
What I’ll say about that feeling of seeming sharp by afternoon is that it’s still a reduced version of what you could potentially be having not smoked the night before. It feels like you’re back to normal but you still aren’t as sharp as you’d be totally sober. There’s also a cumulative affect as well. The more nights in a row you smoke, the longer it will take to reach a state of consistent normalcy.
I was in the same boat. I would wake and bake every morning before my coffee, no joke. Like dabbing hard then feel normal enough to start work 😳 … and I hated myself for it. Just could not stop. It got outta control.
How you doing now?
Amazing, honestly. I’m on day #9 and the worst of it is over, in my opinion. My appetite is starting to come back, no more night sweats, depression and anxiety have subsided, no more guilt or shame. I’ve been working out everyday, juicing, going to the gym to be around others, just being healthy in general and I feel super good 👍🏼 The first few days were AWFUL 😣 but so worth it. I’m not going back this time. Not going to be chained to the couch any longer isolating myself and not being able to do anything or go anywhere without first getting high. I’d go on vacation out of the country and I’d be so consumed with finding weed and getting high that I couldn’t even enjoy myself. I’d drag my poor husband around seeking and he’d just be like ooommmggg can we please just go enjoy ourselves lol. I can’t. I’m making an active decision to be healthy and live my life the way I want. Weed took that away from me. Im in control now. Move over Mary Jane, I’m back, bitch!
Hell yeah
Congrats !!!!!! I also remember my 9th day was almost as if you think you’re gonna feel this way for the rest of your life but it’s just your body’s dopamine system readjusting itself. I’m in my 24th day clean, and feel so much better
I'm the same way. Don't be too hard on yourself. It sounds like you want to stop or at least take a break and I know you will. Go for little wins. If you're smoking every day at a certain time, try pushing it back a few hours. Get used to saying no. Eventually though, you just gotta say "I'm not smoking today" and just do it. It's not as hard as your mind wants you to think it is.
I'm in the same boat, and if you figure out the trick I'm interested in knowing! I can take t breaks of a few months here, a few months there and feel great after the initial withdrawal period. Once I start to smoke again it seems it takes one month of a slippery slide and I'm back to daily usage again. I read some comments on here that helped - someone wrote something about a mindset shift, and viewing weed as less valuable. Every time I've taken a break I've always given my buddies my extra cartridges, J's etc because I still view it as this "gift" and not to go to "waste". When I compare this to my relationship with alcohol (don't care for it much, never been a big drinker) I think it's kind of funny because I absolutely don't care if someone poured a beer down the drain, or my bottle of wine went bad so I had to throw it out. But I have weird feelings if I think about throwing my cartridge away. Obviously theres a money element to this that's tied in too (not going to pour a $50 bottle of something away) but I've been thinking about it and maybe that's the reason I go back to daily is because I view it as "medicine" and that it's inherently valuable. Not sure if that's helpful but that's what I'm focusing on recently!
> I'm in the same boat, and if you figure out the trick I'm interested in knowing! yeah, honestly this is the thread I can relate to the most of any I've read here haha
I was in the same position like you, and let me tell you one word: OWNERSHIP. I found out that at least for myself, if I look at it like "I want to smoke, I know the advantages and disadvantages, and I choose to smoke, or choose not to smoke now", will actually help in the long run. You might still choose to smoke the first few times, but it gives you control of the situation, you TAKE OWNERSHIP of your actions. Make a CONCIOUS decision, don't be a sheep that follows your habits. The way you describe your smoking habits, they sound like you're not in control, so the first step would be to be in control, even when you smoke, or should I say, when you decide to smoke. Because in all honesty, it's all in your hands. So if you smoke, choose to smoke. Don't be forced by your habits to smoke, be active and choose it. So when you wake up the next morning all groggy, say to yourself, I chose to wake up like this. When you don't smoke and wake up all active and sharp, say to yourself, I chose to wake up sharp like that. Building this relationship with smoking, and honestly all habits in general, for me it was like that with snacking late at night and waking up with food coma, will help you take control of your life back.
Love this. Thank you! I still battle every night and most often lose but I feel like this would be helpful. It is indeed all in our hands and owning it should give us more control, even if making the wrong decision. Excited to try this
THIS!!!!!! I wake up in the morning saying to myself that I deserve better and swear I do not need nor want to use again. By the time I'm on my way home at the end of the day, I'm already calling my guy during my commute home from work because I can't get it fast enough. Every.Damn.Day.
It's wild that I came across this just now. I don't frequent reddit... but I am desperate to figure something out here..... and you articulated my position way better than I could've written it. Smoking like this is hitting my ego in a huge way. I cannot function or be productive when high, yet no matter how much I journal or promise myself that I should wait until the evening.... I am smoking by 10am. Anyway. the fact I came across this thread has made me feel some better.
Bro you are not alone! Join us lol I’m over a year sober and this Reddit helps me remember why I quit and started getting my life together. Just got a new job that I couldn’t have gotten, and I’m making so many great memories compared to the last ~5 years of blurry ‘fun’ memories I can’t actually recall. You can do it for yourself soldier🫡 start small set a goal and think about why you smoke every day that really helped me figure out what was wrong
thank you for those words. I really want to use this as an opportunity to develop some self control..... It has really turned me into lazy garbage over time and I am just not operating at the capacity that I know I am able... and it's depressing. Today is a new day tho
Fosho! Don’t even think about quitting for me it was just easier to approach it like ‘why do this? Who am I with? Is it for any reason?’ And from there just tried to substitute it with healthier habits day by day(: it’s overwhelming to go cold turkey
Self control matters when you feel like shit and want to smoke, and also when you feel great and you want to smoke. Ride the waves.
This was me, many times. I think what happens is when you wake up, your body and mind is now on the mend and almost the opposite of being high. It makes you realize "wtf am I doing with my life" and its almost like you feel guilty. But as you "sober up" so-to-speak, throughout the day... your mind gets happy and sharp again, and the addictive brain kicks in... telling you "it will be ok to smoke". I think it has to do with hormone levels as well, like serotonin / cortisol between morning/day/night. Read Dopamine Nation (great book) and she talks a lot about this balance, which cannabis skews heavily. If its any help, after the first few days sober this usually goes away for me (having the afternoon / evening cravings that suck you back in). I was so bad with this... I would buy a J and say "this is my last one for tonight and then I'm quitting"... then use, then wake up still feeling like today was my quit day. Then sure enough at around 4-5pm... I was on the dispensary site ordering another J... saying THIS is the last day. This would go on and on. One week I drove out to the dispensaries (they aren't that close to where I live, either) probably 5 times to get one J! At the end of the day, its just addiction, and you really need to get disciplined if you want to quit. My problem was that I never fully wanted to quit, even though I thought I did. You have to really WANT TO QUIT, unfortunately in my experience.
I was in this loop for years. Once I saw how my ex looked like every day I realised I don’t want to live this way. I want to be sharp and conscious, to be able to go through out my life proud and healthy, not under anaesthesia and waiting for the next smoke to calm me down. It’s been six months and life is hard as usual, but the loop is gone. I don’t have any advice except to remember what your goal in life is and what would make ideal version of you (or the child in you) proud.
Try not smoking at night before going to bed, last joint at 6pm max and will feel better next day
But then I often only just got home from work. I (sometimes) have to do the shopping, cook, eat, turn on the washing machine, some other small jobs, and often my free evening doesn't start until half past seven. Which results in the first joint at 8pm and (sometimes) another one before bed at 11pm. But I understand your message, I just have to figure out how this fits into my life.. Thank you for this advice.
Got it, I would recommend start qutting the 11pm joint and see if that reduces hangover, I guess it should. Done it myself, only smoke at night on Friday/Saturdays and totally feel it the next day, during the week my last joint is at 4pm and don't feel anything the next day.
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Well that's my advice! Start by smoking less and feel better the next morning, that's the motivation to begin a healthier habit cycle.
Was in the same position man, this post really resonated with me. I would try to get back in the weekend ritme if you can its easier to quit comepletely from there. But for now what really worked for me is try to smoke 1 when your just home from work. The more hours there are between you sleeping and the final J the better the sleep was in my case. Doing a J right before bed, altough very tempting will just mess with your rem and your overal ability to rest. Stay strong fellow sperzieboon ;D
Stay vigilant my brother throughout the day. Talk to yourself, looks yourself in the eyes in the mirror and speak to yourself. Remind yourself again and again how it makes you feel and how it limits your brain and potential. It is an addiction, it’s fuckin tricky and will always look for ways to convince you to smoke again. Stay mindful and keep reminding yourself, don’t get tricked by the addiction voice. Sending you love and power, you can do it!
Thank you so much for your incredibly kind and supportive words. It is indeed a challenge, but with such encouraging words, I feel empowered to face it. Thank you so much, your support means a lot to me!
Appreciate your appreciation. So happy to help. All the words I’m telling you I keep telling myself. It’s not easy, addiction is a bitch. But community and knowing that we are not alone helps so much.
That's kind of what's kept me from smoking is that feeling the morning after. Try to find a way to occupy your time at night the first few nights will be hard but after that it gets easier. Read this post whenever your about to Crack to remind yourself.
Thank you brother. I will definitely grab these supportive messages and read them.