Just thought I'd write an update now that it's January and there is a lot of people starting their quit journey. Boy its busy in here and great to see.
I quit in September 2016 after 24 years of smoking weed, the first 18 years only smoking a few evenings and the weekends, but the last 6 years smoking medical grade potent bud every day of the week.
In the first year of smoking I became obsessed with weed and it's culture, and over the years it literally took over every aspect of my life. I thought that I would be smoking happily for the rest of my life and saw nothing wrong with that. It was only after I'd lost almost everything that I realised that my greatest passion in life was also my worst handicap. It still boggles me to this day how I couldn't see the link between my weed consumption and the spiralling downward path my life was taking. I guess that's what addiction does to you, you can't see how negatively it's affecting you and when others point it out you attack them claiming you don't have a problem and give them all the medical reasons why it's so good for society even though you don't have a medical reason for smoking.
Since I'd been smoking for so long, it took 9 months for me to feel normal again and those 9 months were the worst of my life, anxiety, depression, crying spells, depersonalisation, some suicidal thoughts and just basically thinking I'd screwed up my brain and life for good.
The good news is that I hadn't, in fact I'd say that my brain and life is better now than it ever was. I'm the fittest I've ever been in my life, I eat a healthy diet, read good books, have better social interactions, spend more time with my wife and kids, better personal relationships, better sex life, look people in the eye when talking to them, total confidence in myself and have a kind of don't give a f--- attitude where I don't care what others think of me. I can understand new concepts much quicker than before and have begun to understand concepts which boggled me for years. Compared to 15 months ago I'm like a before and after Bradley Cooper in the film Limitless only the opposite, I gave up taking the drug.
My tips to help others is, to realize that giving up weed is only the first step. It takes 21 days to break an old habit because this is how long it takes your brain to form new neural pathways. It also takes 21 days to form a new habit and it's easier to break an old one by replacing it with a new one. So pick a new healthy hobby to replace all the time you spent smoking. You have to do something with all the time you were wasting on being stoned, or else you will start over thinking things and looking back at the way things could have been, could have, should have, would have, and we all know where this train of thought leads to. Don't look at it like all the wasted years spent stoned, life tends to give you exactly what you need to evolve into the person you need to become, the withdrawal process although very hard will turn you into a mental ninja once you come out the other side, and then you can finally meet the true you and your true personality will shine through.
When you break a bad habit you do tend to form new healthier ones by default and life starts to reward you little by little, you won't see it straight away, not today, nor tomorrow ,but over time you'll have a big break through and look back and marvel at how much your life has changed for the better.
Good Luck and stay strong