I have been a smoker for quite a few years now. With only a few short week or month longs breaks a couple times a year. I love it. But.... I always tend back towards smoking "too much" or at least that's what head says. I tend to get lazy as fuck. Eat too much. Seek pleasure and comfort. And then I wake up the next day and jump right back in. I feel like there are people who have healthy relationships with cannabis. And I am sure it is energizing to some people. I want to hear from you. And maybe share some tips on how I find balance. Or is it just not for me? I appreciate your input.
I'd recommend quitting entirely. You don't need it and it sounds like you can't help but have an unhealthy relationship with it. IMO like similar things, it's an amazing tool, medicine, and recreation, but it should be removed if it's getting in the way of your life.
I've gone through two weed periods in my life and while I did benefit from the perspective shift, during each period I began to suspect it was interfering with my goals. If you're not meeting your goals, you need to change things until you do meet them. Removing routine consumption of a powerful medicine that's known to affect motivation, attention, and memory (and differently for everyone which is why you can't trust anyone's "well, it works for me") seems like a natural thing to do.
Consider it an experiment and stop consuming it for 6 months while studying your progress on things that are important to you. For me, after about 8 weeks of ending my last "period," I began making progress on my goals in ways that I hadn't before. Weed made my thinking sloppy and I was stuck thinking rather than doing, exploring rather than exploiting.
Everyone that regularly consumes it thinks it's net-good for them (I certainly did). It's worth seriously considering that might not be the case for you and you cannot know until you take a long break and measure your experience.
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I really think this is the ticket for me. I don't want to admit it but I think in my case, this thing used to serve me and now I am just having a hard time letting go. I say it helps me with........ But I don't know.
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this thing used to serve me and now I am just having a hard time letting go.
A quote that I first heard in the context of ~psychedelics but nonetheless can still be applied to other areas of life:
"If you got the message, hang up the phone."
I say it helps me with........ But I don't know.
It helps you with not taking full responsibility for your life, I would say. You seem to want to move on but you can only move on if you really want to. It takes courage to look forward and leave your past behind. Fear (of the unknown) is the weakness in all of us.
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This guide was really helpful for me, I would highly recommend it: https://www.uvm.edu/health/t-break-take-cannabis-tolerance-break
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Did you dream up SN on a ride along with the devils lettuce??
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I was free of the devil's produce by then. It was about a year after I took my forever break.
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Seems to have been the right move ser 🫡 we are all thankful to have your clear head working on this place!
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After a while it felt like I was smoking my sats away, and daily smokers get used to the high pretty easily. Imagine putting your sats on a bitcoin layer called cannabis......it makes you feel good for an hour and then burns your sats, and every time you use it, it takes more sats to get the same effect. Its like rug pulling yourself for a few kicks.
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No judgement from me. It seems you feel guilty for "seeking pleasure and comfort", and I specifically want to speak to that as an encouragement.
10 years from now, you'll look back at your life and either be disgusted at all the failed opportunities or proud of the strides you made. I'm not talking about material gains, but in character development. You have a choice, every moment of every day, to do things that will tip the scale one way or the other. Ive found that current guilt due to conscience pricks unrepented of almost always leads to self hatred in myself later. The answer is always doing the hard things now that you'll be proud of tomorrow. You have nobody to impress on here or in real life, you simply need to be able to live with yourself, which can be THE most difficult thing. Follow your conscience, discern whether your thoughts are because of unrestrained impulses crying out to be satisfied or if they are genuine needs. Telling yourself no in the small things (like eating one more piece of cake or sleeping in unnecessarily) helps you say no to bigger problems.
Bless you brother.
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trick yourself into wanting to feel uncomfortable because it is the only way you can replace the desire for easy pleasure with the desire for "hard pleasure"
-cold showers -push ups 100+ -fasting long stretches -busy yourself with something strenuous and rewarding
-no weed in the house
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That seems like a solid way to go about it. I grew up under certain strict discipline so now I think I push against what feels like that. Would probably be good for me though.
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Do you have an addictive personality?
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I would say so. I am like a bender kind of person. When I get I to something, I get really in to it. My whole family is like this. I think it comes with passion, sensitivity, compassion, empathy. Addicts are usually very complex Individuals in my experience. But we are all addicted to something maybe. Idk.
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I am in the bucket with having an addictive personality. The best things you can do is quit and re evaluate your relationships with your addictions, do the dont be a pussy method and man up and make sure you accomplish your daily goals before you even consider doing any substance, or lastly you combine both of these quit and find healthier outlets if cannabis is not medically needed in your life. I am in the group of accomplishing all I need to do in the day before I medicate and if I am in bad pain I use alternatives like balms, serums, or transdermal gels to address it without falling into smoking all day.
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If you want to reduce or even quit smoking, whenever you feel the urge to smoke, go for a run or bike ride. You'll quickly lose the desire to smoke.
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That seems like a great idea. I might give it a shot.
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Have you tried to change for edibles or tinctures? Smoke is a motherfucker.. it always get you back on the wrong track😅
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I used to microdose edibles all the time. And then I smoked again and it was over. I get so much pleasure out of jus the smoking act itself. I like it mixed with tobacco. And other herbs too. It's hard to imagine giving that part up. But maybe that is why it would work. Lol
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I’d hamper a guess at tobacco being the main crux of your issue here. Have you tried a dry herb vape? The PAX is pretty good, but the nicotine in tobacco will not let you have a decent relationship
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PAX looks good, was my second choice. I use a STORZ & BICKEL Crafty+. It is excellent.
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I used to only smoke pot. I thought the tobacco helped. At least kept me from getting as super low energy stoned. Maybe not though. I have not tried a dry herb vape.
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I bought a good quality vape pen with some good quality vape juice (10mg nicotine). This has completely replaced my desires for smoking tobacco and really helped with the craving for smoking and vaping cannabis. It also makes me crave sweet snacks far less, less sugar in my diet. Of course there's no 'high', but it feels pleasant and the sight of the water vapour is calming, plus no smell or burning so can use indoors.
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Smoke only on special occassion
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Everyday is a special occasion, right?
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Of cause it is, special days like celebrating wins
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look dude... if you're just going to excuse your behavior, then why ask for the input of others.
you appear to have a reason to stop ("I smoke too much and devolve into lazy, non-ideal behaviors")
what you don't appear to have is the fortitude.
nobody can convince you, except you.
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It really comes down to realizing and making a conscious decision that you do not need these things.
Awareness is key. External sources of pleasure are ephemeral. No matter how much you have, you'll never have enough. A way to improve our relationship with substances and external pleasures are in admitting this truth. There is no sense in chasing something outside of us for it never brings us what we hope it will, especially for long. Recognizing this futility can lead us to want to change our behavior and mindset. But you have to start with a decision.
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Great insights. Thank you.
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Yeah i get your concern. I have only one solution.
Just don’t postpone whatever you have decided to do. Do it even after on cannabis. Complete your work daily and keep doing everyday. Your relation with cannabis will be far better. It will be very helpful to you
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Like everything else in the psychedelic realm, its all about set and setting. I noticed when I would "tend to get lazy as fuck. Eat too much. Seek pleasure and comfort." it was because I was experiencing heightened anxiety when I was smoking. I was anxious because I was ignoring issues and problems in my life and I was using cannabis to escape from those issues.
However, cannabis is a terrible plant to use to escape your problems (at least it is for me). It makes me dwell on them and until I almost have an anxiety attack! Then I eat too much or seek other forms of pleasure to cope with the anxiety. Its a vicious cycle!
So I learned to try to deal with my personal problems and develop a healthy lifestyle and healthy habits first and to use cannabis in moderation only when I had the rest of my affairs in order. I stopped using it as an escape hatch. I can't say I solved my problems and never use cannabis in an unhealthy way anymore but I definitely improved my relationship with it.
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This makes a lot of sense. I think there is generally something else going on beyond the cannabis that I am dealing with that puts me into a place I do not want to be. I have been paying more attention to my intentions with it as of late and I feel like my relationship has been improving a lot. Thanks for the reply.
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Yes good 👍
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"If you trully love her, you take tolerance breaks, otherwise you abuse her" - me
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I was like you years ago, I smoked too much because I took refuge in cannabis, little by little I was identifying why I was smoking so much, and it was because I wanted to take refuge in cannabis due to a relationship that ended some time before and I used cannabis to simply forget, little by little I was reducing the amount I consumed by stopping going with people who smoked and starting to do sports, that made me quit smoking almost completely, nowadays I only smoke a couple of times a month
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To me cannabis isnt a drug. Unless coffee, tobacco, tea, sugar are drugs also. Do you use absolutely no drugs? I like natural things. To me drugs are what doctors kill us with.
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People can be addicted to anything. Everyone has a vice. Could be work. Would be sex. Could be substances. Food. Whatever. Phone. You must have a vice?
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excuses not to act in your own best interest
this is self-deception
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I totally agree. Sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders. I am definitely thinking it's something I just need to let go of. I think it used to help me and now it hasn't in a while. Just letting go now. I appreciate your feedback. I just like asking questions.
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good luck. you deserve exactly what you give yourself.
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Breathe work gets you high. What about that?
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Hmm. I don't even really but it. It falls in my lap. Which is for me a sign that maybe I should have it. Lol
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more excuses not to act in your own best interest
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Do you drink coffee?
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stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.