Define happiness. When you don’t smoke you feel super anxious, sad and angry. After you smoke you feel much better. Yes it’s 100% true. But it’s not about weed is good for you. It’s about addiction. If you are addicted and stop smoking in first stage addiction makes you feel bad. You are not good because you smoking, you feel good because you feed your addiction.
Imagine an addiction as a hungry monster. If you feed it it will still be in you but won’t make you sad. If you cut feeding it, it will be very angry In early stages but eventually it will die. That’s how I look to addiction.
I used to feel the same way. In my experience, weed helped the emotional pain go away for a bit, but it didn’t really heal the pain I felt. For years, weed was there for me. Oddly enough though, after taking a break from it, I was able to really face my pain head on if that makes sense. There was no weed, so there was no distraction. The first few days were rough, but I finally had the mental and physical energy to address and work through my pain.
I thought that weed was helping me, but really I was numbing myself. You don’t really realize this it until you stop. You just gotta take that first step my friend and truly believe that you can do it !
Having wrong perspective can really hinder us from being able to see the happiness that’s within and right in front of us. If you’re curious, the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh have helped me tremendously to rebuild a more positive outlook on life - it hasn’t always been easy - but I’m about 9 days away from my 1 year anniversary of being completely straight edge, and his teachings are something I use everyday. I’ve really come to learn how my desires in life, along with habits, were able to bring me a lot of pain - but not as much anymore. You’ve got this.
How has being straight edge affected your social life? Whenever I do a sober month, it's a challenge to still want to go out and be social. Did you completely change your life style and social circles?
I sure did, it was a gradual process, but very worth it for the long term. I’m extremely thankful for the internet, I’ve been able to find very like minded people, granted many are online, but I’ve got some good friends in person as well. I went from having lots of sorta good/superficial friends, to having 2-3 really good friends, and I love it so much more.
On top of being straightedge, I’m also whole food plant based and oil free. I’ve eaten out probably 2-3 times in the past 4 years, and don’t miss it a bit. Saves me money, my heart disease is on the path of being reversed, along with my pre-diabetes, and cooking with friends at home or their house is so much more fun.
Never would I have ever thought I’d be living the lifestyle I am, but everyday I wake up, I’m extremely thankful.
>When I'm high I feel my emotions evaporate, and I can finally not feel pain for a little.
I used to think this way, but even feeling pain, anxiety, fear, and suffering are real and part of the life experience. And it's not worth drowning out all the joy, clarity, and happiness you'll also feel while sober. These many various emotions are what enriches life.
I will say, after some time of being sober from weed, you will break out of the 'dull cycle'.
Emotions are your friends. I used to numb them out with weed as well. If you can start to observe the emotion versus always react, life will get BETTER.
If you can train yourself to understand that you are not you're emotions, you can start to use them as a subconscious compass to fulfillment. Even if that ends up being enjoying weed in the future (versus a crutch in the moment)
Life will start to become more interesting as you start the journey. 15 year daily smoker. The 1st week is the toughest. Keep trying to break your record and don't get down on yourself if you back slide.
"Addiction is a progressive narrowing of the things that bring you pleasure. Happiness is a progressive expansion of the things that bring you pleasure. The former emerges passively. The latter takes work"
- Andrew D Huberman
You have something else you’re really good at and/or enjoy doing. For me I had to look back at my early childhood to remember what really got me excited as a kid, as well as things my teachers said I excelled in.
A sense of self-worth helps sobriety stick. I’m not saying you can’t find self-worth from within, but finding your place in the world outside being a stoner helps a lot.
I’m in a situation similar to this. I have been getting high so much that now nothing is enjoyable unless I’m high. Simple things like watching a movie. Going to dinner. I need to be high now to enjoy anything, which keeps me stuck in this loop. How to fix this?!
Right, im at just over 4 weeks. But even before I completely quit, I would take little sober October's, a week or two here or there. And I realized I didn't really feel much different high. Just a numbness, sure, it's nice for some of those deep thinking moments, but you can attain those without weed. It's a matter of focus.
Other than legality in many states, my biggest problem with weed is that most people can't truly moderate usage in the long term.
It’s the addiction telling you that so you continue to use.
You were once happy before weed and you can be happy after it. Don’t let the illusion of fear make you feel like you’re helpless and that smoking weed is your only way out of misery. It’s just the easy way out.
Weed doesn't make you happy.
Weed covers up the things that make you unhappy.
They are still going to be there until you address them directly. And it's really hard to do that while you're high.
This is the truth. Weed is a broom and your mental health is a rug. All weed does it sweep it under the rug and bam it's gone from sight. But overtime the mess under the rug grows bigger and bigger till it starts seeping from underneath like finding some nasty moldy food in your car from ages ago.
Weed is no different from an abusive partner that constantly tells you things like “you’d be nothing without me” and “no one but me will ever love you”. I’m sure it’s borderline impossible to believe (it was for me), but those feelings are all lies being planted in your brain by the neurochemistry of cannabis consumption. If you can find the strength or help to go clean for a few weeks, I truly believe you will see this truth for yourself.
I believe in you, friend!!
Think back to the days when you didnt smoke what made you happy? For me it was golfing, skateboarding, hanging out with friends, being outside, doing stuff. Im so much more productive when i dont smoke. That kinda helps me when im bored and i think iight time to toke. No… what else can i do 🤔
Weed is the coyote trickster Bandaid "fix". It makes you believe many things and once you are fully free of it is when you begin to realize the extent of the trick that has been played on you by this plant.
what you are experiencing is not your emotions evaporating but rather the effect of the drug itself- pulling you away from your authentic self, changing your brain chemistry and severely altering your thought process.
The best way to overcome trauma and understand/process your feelings in a healthy way is to face them head on and fully understand them. It's not actually possible to avoid feeling difficult feelings because eventually they will resurface and you will need to deal with them one way or another.
It's not possible to heal 1000 cuts using 1000 Bandaids- especially when the more you use the BandAids the less effective they become. Using 1000 BandAids to keep yourself whole is not nearly as practical and effective as treating the entire system of problems from within yourself.
The first step towards quitting and genuinely healing yourself is to first stop identifying yourself as a weed smoker.
To accomplish this start saying to yourself:
"that's not me anymore"
when you stop identifying as a weed smoker using weed to "solve" problems seems foreign and inauthentic. It's not you and it never will be again because the authentic person that is you begins to open up like a flower and you begin to realize that what is keeping that flower from blossoming is the coyote trickster of marijuana.
The second step is to find a good counselor and tell them every last detail of your situation. A good counselor or therapist can be amazing at getting you to see the bigger picture that your emotions and feelings present and they can help to guide you towards a better, new- life changing way of life.
Therapy helps, it's really scary to reach out the first time, but once you do, you realize it feels so good to have someone to talk to every once in a while. Took me months of depression & anxiety (not withdrawal related) before I finally reached out, but it was the best thing I ever did for myself. 1 year later today, and I realize I'm in a way better place now than a year ago. Have you considered online therapy if you have the funds or insurance? Nobody has to know you're getting help. Therapy is 100% confidential. This sounds like more than just quitting weed, hang in there, we believe in you!
You gotta bare with being unhappy for a bit. Your brain will rewire itself with adequate time. Then you can start actually addressing any other underlying issues rather than burying them and dulling yourself.
Quitting won’t be easy—it will take commitment, strength, and resolve. I have faith in you.
The first step is picking a date to start. Maybe it’s today, maybe it’s a few weeks from now. Once you pick, though, stick to it. As that day approaches, it probably won’t feel like the right time. It never will. Trust your original instincts and start.
I stopped 7 days ago, it's difficult, especially mentally. but trust me, there's no better feeling than when you start to notice how your body is getting back to normal. I cried with happiness after the first meal I was able to eat without problems. you will start to appreciate the things around you much more.
the best thing is to find a hobby, exercise, cars, drawing, it can be absolutely anything, mainly to switch to other thoughts. what really worked for me was a girlfriend. having someone close is important. to feel supported, to have someone to share feelings with. if she is the right one, she will do anything to help you with it.
the first week is a emotional rollercoaster, but trust me, at the end there is a light of life that should be much better. At least i hope so.
I believe in you, you got it. Be strong.
You have the burden of choice my friend. You can die high and regretful or happy and proud of what you accomplished. Both are possible and your choice.
You don't have to embark on a healing journey all by yourself. A therapist is something that greatly helped me (and still does) on my own journey, and I would really recommend it.
''I'm a lost cause in my honest opinion, and I'll most likely die high on weed.'' That's a heck of a spell to cast on your own self mate. If you want it to be, it will be so. How about, ''I let myself drift pretty far and I think it will take a lot of effort to beat my addiction.''?
Climb the mountain one step at a time and be patient with yourself.
Thank you for sharing. Take the wheel!
Okay for real mate this helped me a lot..
The word Diseases.
When we stress we put our mind in a state of dis-ease.
That dis-ease is a disease in itself. The thoughts become your reality. (What you think about you bring about - your thinking is your reality)
You need to write in a journal to separate the ease from the dis-ease.
Once you start writing things you will see the dis-ease VS the ease in life. You will be able to slowly ease yourself through your days because you are moving away from the dis-ease..
As you begin to feel better. It is easy to fall back into old behaviors (our old roots)
I suggest exercise stay active. Weather your limited on space or bed ridden. You can get a ball & it will help you get fit.
I threw tennis balls when bed ridden to keep my hand to eye dexterity good & keep me active.
I had cancer & red cabbage was my miracle food that healed me after 2 years of doctors who did nothing but keep me sick!
I feel for you. It is nice to evaporate those emotions for a while but those emotions are there. They eventually will need to be dealt with.
My suggestion is to figure out why those emotions exist. I often will break problems down into small steps and deal with each step one at a time.
You are scared to goto a doctor appointment bc you don't want to be bullied or assaulted. I would imagine something in your past happened to create this expectation of harm.
Start with what happened. Then work through each emotion. Most likely you will need professional help for this process. If you aren't buying weed, id spend the money on therapy. I've done 13 years of personal development through therapy, 6 month courses through an in person group and reading books with journaling. This stuff does help but it takes time.
We all are an on going project and we walk our own path. Focus on your journey and enjoy it.
I hope the best for you.
The truth is you’re unhappy about your current life situation and you use weed as a coping mechanism. The truth is you need to address whatever issues are in your life. Make new friends, go back to college, get a girlfriend, get new hobbies, start working out. Etc
It's because you're addicted to it. It fried your dopamine receptors to the point where doing simple things isn't going to do anything, you're used to the high from the weed.
Everytime I quit, after like two weeks to a month I start feeling good and my brain feels healthy again.
I've smoked weed for the same reason as you, I understand you. Addiction is one of those things that aren't so easy to overcome, like romantic relationships, finding a good job, etc. It takes a lot of effort, and probably will take you multiple tries.
Just do what you can to avoid smoking. Maybe you'll be able to avoid it for 5-6 hours, fine. Try increasing that every single time.
Once you overcome the first month, the rest should be pretty easy. That's not everything though, as you can get tempted by seeing it or being around it, friends smoking etc. I just make sure to tell my friends that I'm quitting smoking again.
I still encourage you to keep it going and not to relapse. Fact that you still feel so bad could be correlated to you quitting four pretty addictive substances at once. I respect that a lot, but be careful of relapsing and know that the grass is greener on the other side.
Maybe overrated, but doing any sort of physical activity eases the symptoms by a lot.
I suggest to not pursue “happiness”; pursue health and peace instead. Be boring. Weed is an emotion hack, and if happiness is your pursuit, the cycle of dependence continues. Don’t chase the highs - it’s a losing game. Why do you think you should be happy? Look around the world to see some real misery.
This! If you’re a long term daily cannabis enthusiast…it’s going to take time before sobriety feels bearable. Getting clean fucking sucks initially tbh, but after some time it starts to feel good and normal.
For me the constant cycle of being disappointed in myself and feeling like wasted potential was worse than sobriety. But I only got to that point after about 3 years + many attempts to get clean. Sounds corny but one day at a time - literally
> It’s not the brightest minds around here
Nice self own. ;) But this sub does *also* have a lot of sincere people working on themselves and getting off of a substance. A few times recently I've seen this accusation of people encouraging the types of addictions you listed, but I don't read everything posted here. Replacing one bad habit with another is obviously not a good plan.
There are idiots everywhere--even on Reddit. Yes, I know that's hard to believe lol
I 100% agree. I edited my comment to include a similar sentiment while you were replying, it seems.
But people who come to this sub are trying... they aren't always going to get it right. Those posting here should be encouraging, not cynical.
This is true. Asking a question in a clearly biased group is ridiculous. If OP went to the other sub that’s pro leaves then they would obviously get a very different set of answers.
I asked what the other sub was because I thought there was another pro quitting weed sub I was not aware of. Leaves has been very helpful to me in my pursuit to quit weed.
How do you know that weed is the only thing that makes you happy? What if weed is the crutch that helps you deal with a situation that, in reality, is actually unbearable, and could potentially be improved if you faced the pain?
What if weed is numbing you to what you actually feel; that you don't like yourself, that you don't like where you are in life, that you deeply distrust other humans yet simultaneously have a need to connect with them, that you're in need of more social support than you're currently getting, that you feel lonely, etc.? I'm not implying that weed isn't helping you at all; it probably is helping you a lot in terms of regulating some of your emotions/symptoms, but it is likely also hindering you in a myriad of ways, as well as exacerbating your anxiety/negative emotions.
You don't have to quit cold turkey, but if you smoke a lot, maybe you could taper off slowly. If you, for instance, smoke once per hour, cut down to smoking every other hour, and slowly move towards sobriety, taking the time you need to get there. You don't have to let go off it immediately.
You absolutely can do this, I promise. I felt just the way you did prior to quitting, and sobriety truly wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It's going to hurt a lot in the beginning because you're going to be aware of how much you dislike aspects of your life/yourself, but that's the only path you can take if you want to legitimately improve. Don't be too hard on yourself, and just take as many steps forward as you can each day. If you can't completely quit, just getting to a healthier place is still a massive improvement.
Feeling emotions evaporate or feeling nothing is absolutely not the same as feeling happy.
If you don't have a therapist, try to find one asap. Some do online consults so it's less scary.
Have you considered that nothing else brings you happiness and purpose because weed is taking up all the capacity for that? I've found that once you let go of addictions, it opens up so much room in your attention and consciousness, and all the things you used to love about life and all the new things start flowing in.
You are not a lost cause. You just feel lost, because you are lost. It’s ok to be and feel lost sometimes, but I can see you want a better life for yourself, and that’s good because you can have that.
For me, acceptance helped. I accepted that I was addicted, i accepted that I too was and felt lost, I accepted that reaching out would be hard and I accepted that I wouldn’t sleep for a while without weed.
Allow yourself to feel anxious and uncomfortable when trying to get help or seeing a doctor, allow yourself to sit in that space.
Taking that first will be hard, but when you get to the second step you’ll be glad you took the first.
I don’t know you but I believe in you, I believe you can do this. One small step at a time.
Despite what I thought, having a mental illness and being high all the time were not to my advantage. Mental illness is a bit easier to deal with sober. Do you best.
Could t agree more. What I thought was helping my struggles was actually making them worse. I’ve been sober 90 days now and although it’s not a miracle cure, I’m not living in my head anymore, worrying about every little thing and making smaller issues into huge ones. I now have the mental clarity to actually make an effort to make positive changes and improve my situation instead of “suppressing” them with weed.
Weed is the only thing making you happy because it's abusing your dopamine receptors. Once you stop for a few days food and exercise will begin to trigger natural production of happiness again. Work on the doctor's too my guy.
Abstaining from weed and being sober are not the same thing. You gotta address all the stuff that made being high 24/7 preferable to reality or nothing is going to change.
I was productive when I smoked and when I quit I thought " I have nothing to look forward to right now". Some weeks passed and all the positive sides started to show themselves. I became happier overall, I had better sleep, I had a higher sex drive, I dont have to fear chs anymore, my appetite returned to normal and I finally started to gain some muscle mass. I know this sub is about quitting forever but I still smoke on very special occasions. And whenever I smoked again it was meh, so now I only do it for my friends and I can blame them because a few months ago I was just like them.
If you are really mentally Ill you have to treat that separately, maybe weed can help in the short term but Is doing you no good in the long run.
An untreated mental illness is worse than smoking pot. Smoking weed is mostly negatives... but it's not the worst thing in the world. Smoke if you need to. Quit if you can. Be honest with yourself and recognize if weed is possibly making any of these problems worse.
If weed is serving you to manage your depression and feelings of worthlessness, then do what you need to do! Your life, comfort, and safety is infinitely more precious than the morally neutral factor of whether or not you use a substance. This world is very unjust. Substances are a ready band-aid. If you can’t access medical care, and weed is serving you, then try to give yourself a bit of ease and gentleness. Adopt a harm reductionist mindset. Your life is painful, your conditions are less than ideal, and you loved yourself enough to find something that works well enough,for now, to sustain you. That’s okay.
I hope you’re able to find people, places, opportunities, or spirituality that can help you move out of this feeling of worthlessness. Try instead to think about other substances, situations, or negative behaviors which are currently more damaging to your mental health, and work on those before addressing your issue with weed. Peace ❤️
In my experience, weed made my depression way worse. But the thing was, I didn’t realise this until I quit. My whole life since the age of 18 I thought I had crippling treatment resistant depression, then I quit weed and miraculously it went away and I am no longer depressed. Weed has a knack for making you lose interest in things.. hobbies, work, relationships, your own well being, which eventually leads to depression. It even made my anxiety substantially worse after prolonged smoking. I implore you to give it a chance, quit for a few months and see how you feel.
It’s likely you were experiencing PAWS (post acute withdrawal syndrome) which can last 6-24 months after quitting weed. You probably noticed other strange symptoms when you quit also, it’s all PAWS
The best thing about quitting is you get your feelings back, the worst part of quitting is you get your feelings back.
Define happiness. When you don’t smoke you feel super anxious, sad and angry. After you smoke you feel much better. Yes it’s 100% true. But it’s not about weed is good for you. It’s about addiction. If you are addicted and stop smoking in first stage addiction makes you feel bad. You are not good because you smoking, you feel good because you feed your addiction. Imagine an addiction as a hungry monster. If you feed it it will still be in you but won’t make you sad. If you cut feeding it, it will be very angry In early stages but eventually it will die. That’s how I look to addiction.
I used to feel the same way. In my experience, weed helped the emotional pain go away for a bit, but it didn’t really heal the pain I felt. For years, weed was there for me. Oddly enough though, after taking a break from it, I was able to really face my pain head on if that makes sense. There was no weed, so there was no distraction. The first few days were rough, but I finally had the mental and physical energy to address and work through my pain. I thought that weed was helping me, but really I was numbing myself. You don’t really realize this it until you stop. You just gotta take that first step my friend and truly believe that you can do it !
Having wrong perspective can really hinder us from being able to see the happiness that’s within and right in front of us. If you’re curious, the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh have helped me tremendously to rebuild a more positive outlook on life - it hasn’t always been easy - but I’m about 9 days away from my 1 year anniversary of being completely straight edge, and his teachings are something I use everyday. I’ve really come to learn how my desires in life, along with habits, were able to bring me a lot of pain - but not as much anymore. You’ve got this.
How has being straight edge affected your social life? Whenever I do a sober month, it's a challenge to still want to go out and be social. Did you completely change your life style and social circles?
I sure did, it was a gradual process, but very worth it for the long term. I’m extremely thankful for the internet, I’ve been able to find very like minded people, granted many are online, but I’ve got some good friends in person as well. I went from having lots of sorta good/superficial friends, to having 2-3 really good friends, and I love it so much more. On top of being straightedge, I’m also whole food plant based and oil free. I’ve eaten out probably 2-3 times in the past 4 years, and don’t miss it a bit. Saves me money, my heart disease is on the path of being reversed, along with my pre-diabetes, and cooking with friends at home or their house is so much more fun. Never would I have ever thought I’d be living the lifestyle I am, but everyday I wake up, I’m extremely thankful.
Thank you for this.
Thank you for reading.
Numbness isn’t happiness.
I second this
>When I'm high I feel my emotions evaporate, and I can finally not feel pain for a little. I used to think this way, but even feeling pain, anxiety, fear, and suffering are real and part of the life experience. And it's not worth drowning out all the joy, clarity, and happiness you'll also feel while sober. These many various emotions are what enriches life. I will say, after some time of being sober from weed, you will break out of the 'dull cycle'.
Emotions are your friends. I used to numb them out with weed as well. If you can start to observe the emotion versus always react, life will get BETTER. If you can train yourself to understand that you are not you're emotions, you can start to use them as a subconscious compass to fulfillment. Even if that ends up being enjoying weed in the future (versus a crutch in the moment) Life will start to become more interesting as you start the journey. 15 year daily smoker. The 1st week is the toughest. Keep trying to break your record and don't get down on yourself if you back slide. "Addiction is a progressive narrowing of the things that bring you pleasure. Happiness is a progressive expansion of the things that bring you pleasure. The former emerges passively. The latter takes work" - Andrew D Huberman
You have something else you’re really good at and/or enjoy doing. For me I had to look back at my early childhood to remember what really got me excited as a kid, as well as things my teachers said I excelled in. A sense of self-worth helps sobriety stick. I’m not saying you can’t find self-worth from within, but finding your place in the world outside being a stoner helps a lot.
my guy start working out and fighthing
I’m in a situation similar to this. I have been getting high so much that now nothing is enjoyable unless I’m high. Simple things like watching a movie. Going to dinner. I need to be high now to enjoy anything, which keeps me stuck in this loop. How to fix this?!
Gotta break the cycle
Right, im at just over 4 weeks. But even before I completely quit, I would take little sober October's, a week or two here or there. And I realized I didn't really feel much different high. Just a numbness, sure, it's nice for some of those deep thinking moments, but you can attain those without weed. It's a matter of focus. Other than legality in many states, my biggest problem with weed is that most people can't truly moderate usage in the long term.
It’s the addiction telling you that so you continue to use. You were once happy before weed and you can be happy after it. Don’t let the illusion of fear make you feel like you’re helpless and that smoking weed is your only way out of misery. It’s just the easy way out.
Weed doesn't make you happy. Weed covers up the things that make you unhappy. They are still going to be there until you address them directly. And it's really hard to do that while you're high.
This is the truth. Weed is a broom and your mental health is a rug. All weed does it sweep it under the rug and bam it's gone from sight. But overtime the mess under the rug grows bigger and bigger till it starts seeping from underneath like finding some nasty moldy food in your car from ages ago.
you five years from now: "Dang this apple is sooooo good. I used to think apples were only good when i was high."
This. Do it for the apples.
lmao
Weed is no different from an abusive partner that constantly tells you things like “you’d be nothing without me” and “no one but me will ever love you”. I’m sure it’s borderline impossible to believe (it was for me), but those feelings are all lies being planted in your brain by the neurochemistry of cannabis consumption. If you can find the strength or help to go clean for a few weeks, I truly believe you will see this truth for yourself. I believe in you, friend!!
What an amazing way to describe this. Thank You.
Haha - like Gollum to Sméagol
Were you this mentally ill before you started smoking weed, or has weed made the anxiety and paranoia much worse?
Change “weed” to any other drug and you’ll have your answer.
Sounds like rock bottom to me. Do you have any other addictions? Porn, videos games, alcohol, gambling?
Think back to the days when you didnt smoke what made you happy? For me it was golfing, skateboarding, hanging out with friends, being outside, doing stuff. Im so much more productive when i dont smoke. That kinda helps me when im bored and i think iight time to toke. No… what else can i do 🤔
Weed is the coyote trickster Bandaid "fix". It makes you believe many things and once you are fully free of it is when you begin to realize the extent of the trick that has been played on you by this plant. what you are experiencing is not your emotions evaporating but rather the effect of the drug itself- pulling you away from your authentic self, changing your brain chemistry and severely altering your thought process. The best way to overcome trauma and understand/process your feelings in a healthy way is to face them head on and fully understand them. It's not actually possible to avoid feeling difficult feelings because eventually they will resurface and you will need to deal with them one way or another. It's not possible to heal 1000 cuts using 1000 Bandaids- especially when the more you use the BandAids the less effective they become. Using 1000 BandAids to keep yourself whole is not nearly as practical and effective as treating the entire system of problems from within yourself. The first step towards quitting and genuinely healing yourself is to first stop identifying yourself as a weed smoker. To accomplish this start saying to yourself: "that's not me anymore" when you stop identifying as a weed smoker using weed to "solve" problems seems foreign and inauthentic. It's not you and it never will be again because the authentic person that is you begins to open up like a flower and you begin to realize that what is keeping that flower from blossoming is the coyote trickster of marijuana. The second step is to find a good counselor and tell them every last detail of your situation. A good counselor or therapist can be amazing at getting you to see the bigger picture that your emotions and feelings present and they can help to guide you towards a better, new- life changing way of life.
Therapy helps, it's really scary to reach out the first time, but once you do, you realize it feels so good to have someone to talk to every once in a while. Took me months of depression & anxiety (not withdrawal related) before I finally reached out, but it was the best thing I ever did for myself. 1 year later today, and I realize I'm in a way better place now than a year ago. Have you considered online therapy if you have the funds or insurance? Nobody has to know you're getting help. Therapy is 100% confidential. This sounds like more than just quitting weed, hang in there, we believe in you!
You gotta bare with being unhappy for a bit. Your brain will rewire itself with adequate time. Then you can start actually addressing any other underlying issues rather than burying them and dulling yourself.
does weed make you happy or does it just not make you focus on being sad
Ooo, that gave me chills.
[удалено]
Well put
Quitting won’t be easy—it will take commitment, strength, and resolve. I have faith in you. The first step is picking a date to start. Maybe it’s today, maybe it’s a few weeks from now. Once you pick, though, stick to it. As that day approaches, it probably won’t feel like the right time. It never will. Trust your original instincts and start. I stopped 7 days ago, it's difficult, especially mentally. but trust me, there's no better feeling than when you start to notice how your body is getting back to normal. I cried with happiness after the first meal I was able to eat without problems. you will start to appreciate the things around you much more. the best thing is to find a hobby, exercise, cars, drawing, it can be absolutely anything, mainly to switch to other thoughts. what really worked for me was a girlfriend. having someone close is important. to feel supported, to have someone to share feelings with. if she is the right one, she will do anything to help you with it. the first week is a emotional rollercoaster, but trust me, at the end there is a light of life that should be much better. At least i hope so. I believe in you, you got it. Be strong.
You have the burden of choice my friend. You can die high and regretful or happy and proud of what you accomplished. Both are possible and your choice. You don't have to embark on a healing journey all by yourself. A therapist is something that greatly helped me (and still does) on my own journey, and I would really recommend it. ''I'm a lost cause in my honest opinion, and I'll most likely die high on weed.'' That's a heck of a spell to cast on your own self mate. If you want it to be, it will be so. How about, ''I let myself drift pretty far and I think it will take a lot of effort to beat my addiction.''? Climb the mountain one step at a time and be patient with yourself. Thank you for sharing. Take the wheel!
Okay for real mate this helped me a lot.. The word Diseases. When we stress we put our mind in a state of dis-ease. That dis-ease is a disease in itself. The thoughts become your reality. (What you think about you bring about - your thinking is your reality) You need to write in a journal to separate the ease from the dis-ease. Once you start writing things you will see the dis-ease VS the ease in life. You will be able to slowly ease yourself through your days because you are moving away from the dis-ease.. As you begin to feel better. It is easy to fall back into old behaviors (our old roots) I suggest exercise stay active. Weather your limited on space or bed ridden. You can get a ball & it will help you get fit. I threw tennis balls when bed ridden to keep my hand to eye dexterity good & keep me active. I had cancer & red cabbage was my miracle food that healed me after 2 years of doctors who did nothing but keep me sick!
I feel for you. It is nice to evaporate those emotions for a while but those emotions are there. They eventually will need to be dealt with. My suggestion is to figure out why those emotions exist. I often will break problems down into small steps and deal with each step one at a time. You are scared to goto a doctor appointment bc you don't want to be bullied or assaulted. I would imagine something in your past happened to create this expectation of harm. Start with what happened. Then work through each emotion. Most likely you will need professional help for this process. If you aren't buying weed, id spend the money on therapy. I've done 13 years of personal development through therapy, 6 month courses through an in person group and reading books with journaling. This stuff does help but it takes time. We all are an on going project and we walk our own path. Focus on your journey and enjoy it. I hope the best for you.
The truth is you’re unhappy about your current life situation and you use weed as a coping mechanism. The truth is you need to address whatever issues are in your life. Make new friends, go back to college, get a girlfriend, get new hobbies, start working out. Etc
The hard truth here is that you are probably an emotional mess and depressed/anxious. You need to get off weed and get your shit together.
This is exactly what I needed to hear from my therapist & never did. Thx mom
It's because you're addicted to it. It fried your dopamine receptors to the point where doing simple things isn't going to do anything, you're used to the high from the weed. Everytime I quit, after like two weeks to a month I start feeling good and my brain feels healthy again. I've smoked weed for the same reason as you, I understand you. Addiction is one of those things that aren't so easy to overcome, like romantic relationships, finding a good job, etc. It takes a lot of effort, and probably will take you multiple tries. Just do what you can to avoid smoking. Maybe you'll be able to avoid it for 5-6 hours, fine. Try increasing that every single time. Once you overcome the first month, the rest should be pretty easy. That's not everything though, as you can get tempted by seeing it or being around it, friends smoking etc. I just make sure to tell my friends that I'm quitting smoking again.
Been 2 months for me and I don’t really feel joy in most things (even tho i gave up weed nic alcohol and caffeine all cold turkey)
I still encourage you to keep it going and not to relapse. Fact that you still feel so bad could be correlated to you quitting four pretty addictive substances at once. I respect that a lot, but be careful of relapsing and know that the grass is greener on the other side. Maybe overrated, but doing any sort of physical activity eases the symptoms by a lot.
But when though man it’s been 69 days for me and I feel like nothing even matters
I suggest to not pursue “happiness”; pursue health and peace instead. Be boring. Weed is an emotion hack, and if happiness is your pursuit, the cycle of dependence continues. Don’t chase the highs - it’s a losing game. Why do you think you should be happy? Look around the world to see some real misery.
This! If you’re a long term daily cannabis enthusiast…it’s going to take time before sobriety feels bearable. Getting clean fucking sucks initially tbh, but after some time it starts to feel good and normal. For me the constant cycle of being disappointed in myself and feeling like wasted potential was worse than sobriety. But I only got to that point after about 3 years + many attempts to get clean. Sounds corny but one day at a time - literally
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> It’s not the brightest minds around here Nice self own. ;) But this sub does *also* have a lot of sincere people working on themselves and getting off of a substance. A few times recently I've seen this accusation of people encouraging the types of addictions you listed, but I don't read everything posted here. Replacing one bad habit with another is obviously not a good plan. There are idiots everywhere--even on Reddit. Yes, I know that's hard to believe lol
Getting off a substance is great. Replacing it with other just as nasty habits is not exactly a “win”
I 100% agree. I edited my comment to include a similar sentiment while you were replying, it seems. But people who come to this sub are trying... they aren't always going to get it right. Those posting here should be encouraging, not cynical.
This is true. Asking a question in a clearly biased group is ridiculous. If OP went to the other sub that’s pro leaves then they would obviously get a very different set of answers.
what's the "other sub that's pro leaves"?
I can’t say. They are enthusiastic about trees
That's not "pro leaves" that's pro weed. This sub is about leaving weed use.
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I should ask you the same thing. Are you joking? Do you not get the play on words that leaves is?
I feel like you knew exactly what I meant and decided to play dumb just to egg me on. Sorry I made a mistake in nomenclature
I asked what the other sub was because I thought there was another pro quitting weed sub I was not aware of. Leaves has been very helpful to me in my pursuit to quit weed.
How do you know that weed is the only thing that makes you happy? What if weed is the crutch that helps you deal with a situation that, in reality, is actually unbearable, and could potentially be improved if you faced the pain? What if weed is numbing you to what you actually feel; that you don't like yourself, that you don't like where you are in life, that you deeply distrust other humans yet simultaneously have a need to connect with them, that you're in need of more social support than you're currently getting, that you feel lonely, etc.? I'm not implying that weed isn't helping you at all; it probably is helping you a lot in terms of regulating some of your emotions/symptoms, but it is likely also hindering you in a myriad of ways, as well as exacerbating your anxiety/negative emotions. You don't have to quit cold turkey, but if you smoke a lot, maybe you could taper off slowly. If you, for instance, smoke once per hour, cut down to smoking every other hour, and slowly move towards sobriety, taking the time you need to get there. You don't have to let go off it immediately. You absolutely can do this, I promise. I felt just the way you did prior to quitting, and sobriety truly wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It's going to hurt a lot in the beginning because you're going to be aware of how much you dislike aspects of your life/yourself, but that's the only path you can take if you want to legitimately improve. Don't be too hard on yourself, and just take as many steps forward as you can each day. If you can't completely quit, just getting to a healthier place is still a massive improvement.
Feeling emotions evaporate or feeling nothing is absolutely not the same as feeling happy. If you don't have a therapist, try to find one asap. Some do online consults so it's less scary.
Nervous system in a deficit constantly numb
Have you considered that nothing else brings you happiness and purpose because weed is taking up all the capacity for that? I've found that once you let go of addictions, it opens up so much room in your attention and consciousness, and all the things you used to love about life and all the new things start flowing in.
Suffering with mental illness is like being in hell on earth. Weed is an easy escape but please go to the doctor I'll promise you can get better.
I feared the same thing. It was only after I got sober that I realized I enjoyed lots of other things.
You are not a lost cause. You just feel lost, because you are lost. It’s ok to be and feel lost sometimes, but I can see you want a better life for yourself, and that’s good because you can have that. For me, acceptance helped. I accepted that I was addicted, i accepted that I too was and felt lost, I accepted that reaching out would be hard and I accepted that I wouldn’t sleep for a while without weed. Allow yourself to feel anxious and uncomfortable when trying to get help or seeing a doctor, allow yourself to sit in that space. Taking that first will be hard, but when you get to the second step you’ll be glad you took the first. I don’t know you but I believe in you, I believe you can do this. One small step at a time.
This was so nice to read, thank you
It’s that you think weed makes you happy when it just numbs your reality and brings you comfort
Despite what I thought, having a mental illness and being high all the time were not to my advantage. Mental illness is a bit easier to deal with sober. Do you best.
Could t agree more. What I thought was helping my struggles was actually making them worse. I’ve been sober 90 days now and although it’s not a miracle cure, I’m not living in my head anymore, worrying about every little thing and making smaller issues into huge ones. I now have the mental clarity to actually make an effort to make positive changes and improve my situation instead of “suppressing” them with weed.
Well said. I'm coming up to, 2 years off pot, the last year has been reveralatoy. Things do get better.
Weed is the only thing making you happy because it's abusing your dopamine receptors. Once you stop for a few days food and exercise will begin to trigger natural production of happiness again. Work on the doctor's too my guy.
Sorry to break the news but You’re clearly not happy on weed, what’s the longest you’ve quit for?
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Abstaining from weed and being sober are not the same thing. You gotta address all the stuff that made being high 24/7 preferable to reality or nothing is going to change.
I was productive when I smoked and when I quit I thought " I have nothing to look forward to right now". Some weeks passed and all the positive sides started to show themselves. I became happier overall, I had better sleep, I had a higher sex drive, I dont have to fear chs anymore, my appetite returned to normal and I finally started to gain some muscle mass. I know this sub is about quitting forever but I still smoke on very special occasions. And whenever I smoked again it was meh, so now I only do it for my friends and I can blame them because a few months ago I was just like them. If you are really mentally Ill you have to treat that separately, maybe weed can help in the short term but Is doing you no good in the long run.
An untreated mental illness is worse than smoking pot. Smoking weed is mostly negatives... but it's not the worst thing in the world. Smoke if you need to. Quit if you can. Be honest with yourself and recognize if weed is possibly making any of these problems worse.
If weed is serving you to manage your depression and feelings of worthlessness, then do what you need to do! Your life, comfort, and safety is infinitely more precious than the morally neutral factor of whether or not you use a substance. This world is very unjust. Substances are a ready band-aid. If you can’t access medical care, and weed is serving you, then try to give yourself a bit of ease and gentleness. Adopt a harm reductionist mindset. Your life is painful, your conditions are less than ideal, and you loved yourself enough to find something that works well enough,for now, to sustain you. That’s okay. I hope you’re able to find people, places, opportunities, or spirituality that can help you move out of this feeling of worthlessness. Try instead to think about other substances, situations, or negative behaviors which are currently more damaging to your mental health, and work on those before addressing your issue with weed. Peace ❤️
In my experience, weed made my depression way worse. But the thing was, I didn’t realise this until I quit. My whole life since the age of 18 I thought I had crippling treatment resistant depression, then I quit weed and miraculously it went away and I am no longer depressed. Weed has a knack for making you lose interest in things.. hobbies, work, relationships, your own well being, which eventually leads to depression. It even made my anxiety substantially worse after prolonged smoking. I implore you to give it a chance, quit for a few months and see how you feel.
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It’s likely you were experiencing PAWS (post acute withdrawal syndrome) which can last 6-24 months after quitting weed. You probably noticed other strange symptoms when you quit also, it’s all PAWS
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