Never thought I'd be trying to convince someone to keep smoking when they Cleary don't want to....seems like Mary Jane will definitely be missing you lol...just kidding...you got this
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Quitting weed
- Thread starter Exitwound
- Start date
Don't worry stoner.
I have done this for years. I quit. I smoke. I quit. I smoke. It works well for me to place it down for periods of time. Always feels good to come back to it because deep down I will always be a stoner. Never do get rid of my stoner gear anyway.
I haven't been a stoner for years...if I smoke I take one big hit before a 3 mile run. After mile one the nervousness and anxiety settles in and I can enjoy the high. If I smoke without cardio..I will overthink for an hour.
So roughly one month passed since I quit.
Just to update anyone who thinks about quitting:
- If I can do it, so can you!
- Excessive sweating is almost gone, I occasionally get some small episodes of extra sweaty armpits, but they are very manageable
- Libido is coming back
- I still get high BP/heartrate from time to time, but it's definitely not that frequent and intense anymore. First weeks, resting heart rate was 90-95+, sometimes more than 100. Now it is below 80-85 most of the time.
- Some irritability is still there, but it's also very controllable (especially with self-observation and mind calming techniques I have learned from entheogenic journeys)
- My quality of life has improved since: 1) I have better, more wholesome sleep. 2) I am much more productive 3) I have more free time to do constructive things in life 4) wife is much happier person now
- I thought I'd have much more cravings, but actually I rarely even think about smoking weed, so currently it's not hard at all to continue "not using".
P.s. this is not to advocate about quitting for everyone. Only for those that are thinking about it themselves
Just to update anyone who thinks about quitting:
- If I can do it, so can you!
- Excessive sweating is almost gone, I occasionally get some small episodes of extra sweaty armpits, but they are very manageable
- Libido is coming back
- I still get high BP/heartrate from time to time, but it's definitely not that frequent and intense anymore. First weeks, resting heart rate was 90-95+, sometimes more than 100. Now it is below 80-85 most of the time.
- Some irritability is still there, but it's also very controllable (especially with self-observation and mind calming techniques I have learned from entheogenic journeys)
- My quality of life has improved since: 1) I have better, more wholesome sleep. 2) I am much more productive 3) I have more free time to do constructive things in life 4) wife is much happier person now
- I thought I'd have much more cravings, but actually I rarely even think about smoking weed, so currently it's not hard at all to continue "not using".
P.s. this is not to advocate about quitting for everyone. Only for those that are thinking about it themselves
Panpsychic
Titanium Teammate
Quit weed about 13 years ago and haven't looked back.So roughly one month passed since I quit.
Just to update anyone who thinks about quitting:
- If I can do it, so can you!
- Excessive sweating is almost gone, I occasionally get some small episodes of extra sweaty armpits, but they are very manageable
- Libido is coming back
- I still get high BP/heartrate from time to time, but it's definitely not that frequent and intense anymore. First weeks, resting heart rate was 90-95+, sometimes more than 100. Now it is below 80-85 most of the time.
- Some irritability is still there, but it's also very controllable (especially with self-observation and mind calming techniques I have learned from entheogenic journeys)
- My quality of life has improved since: 1) I have better, more wholesome sleep. 2) I am much more productive 3) I have more free time to do constructive things in life 4) wife is much happier person now
- I thought I'd have much more cravings, but actually I rarely even think about smoking weed, so currently it's not hard at all to continue "not using".
P.s. this is not to advocate about quitting for everyone. Only for those that are thinking about it themselves
It's best attribute was probably as a 'gateway' drug that opened me to the world of psychedelics.
If it can be kept under control it could possibly be of value but like tobacco, which it is generally mixed with, it usually becomes a dependency and was just a horrible waste of time and reduced efficiency and escapism. That was the university days but it took years for the residual effects to go and the habit patterns. Hey, but at least it improved music.
Not a fan or advocate of cannabis anymore and the risks to the young in particular is very real, especially with this engineered stuff that is super potentent and unnatural.
Probably would have been better off never having been introduced to cannabis but would I have discovered LSD and psilocybin without associating with people into smoking weed? Probably not so that was the value.
It’s interesting reading through this thread has made me realize even more how much I seem to really require cannabis to function well. A lot of the side effects ppl describe here are symptoms I use cannabis to alleviate. It’s totally different because I’m dealing with a chronic auto immune disease and cannabis is just a freaking godsend. Horrible night sweats? Inflammatory bowel disease? Insomnia and crippling back pain at night? Weed is amazing.
Too exhausted to move/work? No drive?..anxiety? Cannabis is a wonder drug for me.
I believe it’s partly the only reason I’m not on TNF-a blockers atm, which my Dr is pushing on me. I would def be on opioids part time as well if not for weed.
To each their own. Everyone is different and I feel I guess that where real medical use comes in. Some people really need it, and it sounds like some really don’t.
Too exhausted to move/work? No drive?..anxiety? Cannabis is a wonder drug for me.
I believe it’s partly the only reason I’m not on TNF-a blockers atm, which my Dr is pushing on me. I would def be on opioids part time as well if not for weed.
To each their own. Everyone is different and I feel I guess that where real medical use comes in. Some people really need it, and it sounds like some really don’t.
Panpsychic
Titanium Teammate
Yes, you are really talking about medicinal use which is something different and cannot be disputed.
Like a heroin addict vs opiate use in medicine there is really no comparison and weed can have a similar divergence in use.
Don't know how I missed this thread, but congratulations on the abstinence.3rd day of cold turkey after more than 9 years (I don't remember exactly hehe), of quite intense daily (wake'n'bake, "functional stoner", 10+ smokes a day) use.
Tried stopping several times, every time it was a race to find a reason to smoke up again.
This time, the commitment is serious.
Oh Cannabis, Mary Jane, Marijuana, Weed, You sweet green mamba snake. You can replace everything in life, but at what cost?
I loved growing plants, smoking them and sharing with friends, but everything has it's depth and weed pond looks very shallow, after all these years
Bored? Smoke weed. Hungry? Smoke weed. Sad? Smoke weed. Happy? Smoke weed. Problem? Smoke some more. No problems? Smoke even more!
Tbh, I WAS functional stoner. Have a great job, family, kids, friends. But how functional? That's the question of a perspective
I am a bit angry at myself, "that's why you can't have good things", I get addicted to good stuff easily and the feel incomplete without subject of my addiction.
Reddit has very good and supportive community "r/leaves", I thought maybe we could start a small "sober(ed) up" support thread over here too
Quitting is easy, eh? I've done it loads of times. Ho ho.
Not actually just joking there. I have quit, or tried to quit, MJ numerous times, with varying lengths of success, but whenever I do quit, cold turkey is literally the only way possible. I can do abstinence, but I can't do temperance. Boy, do I wish I could, as I would love nothing more than to be able to have ganja in the house and just have a little toke from time to time, but no matter how much I tell myself things will be different this time, they won't. I may be able to start off having a little bit, but if I have nothing to have to stay sober for, a packed bong will materialise in front of me, as if by magic, and away we go.
I've currently not smoked for about a week (I told you quitting was easy), and am definitely feeling better for it. Clearer head, more energy, far less negative, better sleep, and the desire to smoke is not currently with me, but I know it will return.
I didn't this time, but in the past I have done 3-5days water fasts, taking bentonite clay and psyllium husk, when I want to quit. Not only is that an incredibly powerful reset/cleanse, I find that quitting everything makes it easier to take my mind off the fact I am jonesing for MJ.
MJ is clearly a master plant, and my abuse of it feels, to me, like I am disrespecting that. Mother Aya told me I needed sobriety, and I am pretty sure she was talking about MJ. It's tough to look back and see how being such a stoner has kept me from making of myself what is possible.
I hope your willpower is still going strong.
Peace.
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This is almost exactly me. In my case, I would even love to be able to be temperate by smoking just a little every day. When I get started, I not only am going to smoke every day, I smoke every few hours until I'm stoned and either sleeping or watching television.
But, like you, I can stop completely when I want to. Total abstinence.
I quit for over twenty years to raise my daughter, not starting again till I retired. My life since then has been periods of smoking and periods of abstinence. I wish I could smoke every day and still be productive, but I know that I need to stop if I want to get things done.
Ah well, it works... imperfectly.
Oh yeah. Deems does indeed help. If I smoke Deems on and off for a week or so, I get an afterglow that makes abstinence much easier.
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Skr9
Skratch
Same here. I've experienced too many side effects. I quit a few years ago and haven't looked back since.
Cannabis feels like the vast majority of its effects are side effects and harm to me, with only a small part providing some help. But it seems more like a made-up help.... an illusion.
My life has become fuller and happier without cannabis. I live sober and take psychedelics sometimes. They really help.
Weed was breaking my life and making me more and more stupid. I am a different person without it.
Hugin
Established member
I also stopped smoking weed not to stop completely but to stop the abuse.
Take control so I can use it as a tool later when ever i want to. That mindset at least got me to win the battle after 18years of abuse
Weed provokes my inner-voice that is otherwise so distant without it and so subtle when abused.
I stopped smoking weed daily 8 months ago after 18 years as a daily smoker and transformed my lifestyle completely and took full control of my life, body and mind. not going to dig deep into it here. But 5 months ago I smoked a joint as a reward for the last successful 3months of transformation.
After a small joint I connected so strongly to my inner-voice that it was a small experience in of it self. I came to immediate realization how I’ve had been behaving recently to my loved ones, how I’ve had disregarded my kids and not given the attention and time with them myself and they needed. How I’ve had handled myself in conversations to ones close to me and been self centred and arrogant lately. Not aware or living in the moment at all. That inner-voice made me realize I had not been aligned with myself as usually lately, reacting spontaneous from emotions rather than rational thought. These are things I preach and practice but lately I had been blind. I was immediately ashamed of myself.
I Walked back home stoned out of my mind from a tiny toke, smiling ear to ear holding a bag of apologise like Santa Claus.
Holy hell how much I had missed that inner voice.
How immediate that small toke of weed provoked my inner voice, let me really zoom out and spoke to me with self reflection. It was so powerful I felt it was worth noting in the context of this thread.
as Tripolation said
the battle of giving in or having control.
I stopped to take control, a small toke every-now and then for me personally when ever i start again will work as a tool. Abusing it daily is dreadful and will drain your inner drive and motives. As much as I miss it, now I feel so free without it. I have no intent or interest anytime soon…Now coming to think of it maybe soon I’ll dip my toe to celebrate my control and use as confirmation of being true to myself it will show with long breaks in between.
Then again breaking my willpower at this point is harder than it was breaking my habits.
Take control so I can use it as a tool later when ever i want to. That mindset at least got me to win the battle after 18years of abuse
Weed provokes my inner-voice that is otherwise so distant without it and so subtle when abused.
I stopped smoking weed daily 8 months ago after 18 years as a daily smoker and transformed my lifestyle completely and took full control of my life, body and mind. not going to dig deep into it here. But 5 months ago I smoked a joint as a reward for the last successful 3months of transformation.
After a small joint I connected so strongly to my inner-voice that it was a small experience in of it self. I came to immediate realization how I’ve had been behaving recently to my loved ones, how I’ve had disregarded my kids and not given the attention and time with them myself and they needed. How I’ve had handled myself in conversations to ones close to me and been self centred and arrogant lately. Not aware or living in the moment at all. That inner-voice made me realize I had not been aligned with myself as usually lately, reacting spontaneous from emotions rather than rational thought. These are things I preach and practice but lately I had been blind. I was immediately ashamed of myself.
I Walked back home stoned out of my mind from a tiny toke, smiling ear to ear holding a bag of apologise like Santa Claus.
Holy hell how much I had missed that inner voice.
How immediate that small toke of weed provoked my inner voice, let me really zoom out and spoke to me with self reflection. It was so powerful I felt it was worth noting in the context of this thread.
as Tripolation said
Quitting was for me super hard but as soon as I stopped looking at it as quitting and just, taking a break, clearity, taking control. It became 1000x easier. Also I love that mind battle.
the battle of giving in or having control.
I stopped to take control, a small toke every-now and then for me personally when ever i start again will work as a tool. Abusing it daily is dreadful and will drain your inner drive and motives. As much as I miss it, now I feel so free without it. I have no intent or interest anytime soon…Now coming to think of it maybe soon I’ll dip my toe to celebrate my control and use as confirmation of being true to myself it will show with long breaks in between.
Then again breaking my willpower at this point is harder than it was breaking my habits.
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Skr9
Skratch
Withdrawals are your tax for being drugged. Enjoy them!
hi @Hugin sometimes i miss that shift of perspective that weed can give but how can you do that (smoking a little and hearing that inner voice) without falling back into addiction?
moreover the last times i smoked before quitting i no longer felt like i was having a new perspective on things but instead i felt like the plant was taking control of my mind
moreover the last times i smoked before quitting i no longer felt like i was having a new perspective on things but instead i felt like the plant was taking control of my mind
Hugin
Established member
Hi @CosmicRiver love your nickname!
That inner voice is just myself reflecting my behaviour it’s internal monologue, a stream of thoughts, feelings. That humbleness and another perspective weed gives me personally.
Now I’m more aware of myself and don’t need weed to access that self reflection. It was just an experience I had when I smoked weed again after along time off in that moment. There were a lot of changes in my life I was going through at that time quitting habits on all kinds of drugs and turning around my reckless lifestyle that effected my behaviour as I described. Also probably just overcoming withdrawals and internal battle I was dealing with at the time turning my back on my reckless mad hatter lifestyle.
You don’t have the same experience and that’s perfectly normal we all have different personality traits, views, beliefs, experiences.
I believe addiction is something you choose not a disease. Addiction is defined by no control and withdrawals if you overcome withdrawals you overcome the addiction. It comes down to control, how much you want it. And will power, mindset to not fall into past habits. If you are an addict you lie to yourself and convince yourself to justify your addiction and behaviour. That includes the illusion that you are sick and need it or whatever excuses you use to justify giving in. That includes accepting to weak of a mindset to attempt. So you don’t. That’s another way to convince yourself and justify the abuse.
At the same time away to degrade your personal ability.
That goes for any addiction. Drugs, sugars, food, alcohol. Whatever.
Anyone can quit whatever if one wants to.
Only when it’s abuse is the time one needs to.
In the past when I quit and started again that lasted mostly a week I wanted to quit because the tolerance was so high it barely worked anymore, it was having negative effects and so on. But still I really truly didn’t want to quit I loved weed so much and still do, but this time around I simply have a another mindset like I said, for me now it’s about being in full control of my body and mind, that includes all choices, cravings, addiction, behaviour, way of thinking etc.
I don’t give in anymore and I am training that will power and control over myself.
It’s an internal mind battle that I love now.
I experience addiction as body cravings addiction mostly and it’s the mind that gives in.
It’s about understanding and controlling harmony between body and mind as separate organisms.
I have abused a lot of drugs but always been mostly able to control it. weed stuck with me way more then anything and was always that innocent harmless thing I awarded myself with.that was my justification.
I used amphetamine also a lot and adderall to give me that drive to make things happen. I used to grow weed a lot and I was living a mad hatter lifestyle so you can only imagine. my access to all drugs has never been a problem I just always mostly had some control over myself and will power.
As you know when you quit smoking weed for a week the tolerance will go back to zero let alone months. I used to smoke grams a day without being satisfied, now I only need to smell it to kiss the sky.
Weed is certainly not for everyone and can cause negative mental problems for alot of people especially abused, it’s so individualised. That goes for most of drugs in general.
I’m happy to hear you could detect any negative effects it had on you and had will power to take action accordingly.
If you tend to fall into same habits without control then just don’t do it. If you have the mindset and strong will to train it, train it.
I have the ability to do that so I do.
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Thanks @Hugin it means many things to me. The Milky Way i love seeing at night where it's visible, the Caapi vine, the river that carried me in my Ayahuasca journey, the mindstream, the Flow we're all into, the Way we follow, the other shore of the river. But i would probably choose another name now.
Anyway back on topic thank you for your explanation. I got really calm by reading your reply, maybe from the way you word things. I agree with you upon addiction, we can certainly get to know ourselves and the narratives our mind builds to make us fall back into it, and why it does it, and try solve those issues. And by knowing all of this being able to ride it without becoming entangled. I know this of my current mindset but I don't know what would happen if I got high, it's like a dormant seed in my mind you know, i don't know what it takes to break its dormancy. But I'm happy you found balance in this.
Anyway back on topic thank you for your explanation. I got really calm by reading your reply, maybe from the way you word things. I agree with you upon addiction, we can certainly get to know ourselves and the narratives our mind builds to make us fall back into it, and why it does it, and try solve those issues. And by knowing all of this being able to ride it without becoming entangled. I know this of my current mindset but I don't know what would happen if I got high, it's like a dormant seed in my mind you know, i don't know what it takes to break its dormancy. But I'm happy you found balance in this.
Glad to see this topic alive and well Some great posts and positive stories shared, love reading them!
Meanwhile for me, more than 2.5 month free from the lady MJ. Never really thought I could do it and it makes me feel better about myself
If you are struggling and in doubt, just to let you know: you can do it! Taking the first step is the hardest, but it will bring more good into your life, than you actually thought it would!
Some great posts and positive stories shared, love reading them!Meanwhile for me, more than 2.5 month free from the lady MJ. Never really thought I could do it and it makes me feel better about myself
If you are struggling and in doubt, just to let you know: you can do it! Taking the first step is the hardest, but it will bring more good into your life, than you actually thought it would!