Benefits of being off weed

[Cali-Detroit]

Oh man, thank you so much...that positively is what I need to hear. "Knowing" not "hoping"....yes ,yes, yes. Ok I'm going to sail on that brother, I'm going to ride that wave into the future. Thank you.

In keeping with the original theme here:

Benefit:. Learning to process life without being high all the time, and the tangible growth that comes with overcoming challenges instead of avoiding them

[wakinglife]

Benefit: spending time with new people, feeling confident.

I attended a birthday party for a new friend on the weekend. My wife was away, so I was solo — only knew the hosting couple plus 2 other partygoers beforehand. This circle of people tend to enjoy smoking a fair amount of weed when they party. Thankfully, I was not really tempted by the joints being passed around. I also felt confident and relaxed while socializing, despite having just met most of them for the first time. I noticed how people I was having an entertaining (even somewhat deep) conversation with would seem to get shy as soon as they’d smoked weed. I bring this up not to judge or put them down. I bring it up as a consistent observation through the evening. They can choose to smoke; I am grateful for my presence of mind in choosing not to smoke.

After all these years off weed, it still feels good to be reminded that I’m making a conscious choice that’s best for me.

[wakinglife]

Cannabis became legal in Canada today.

Benefit: Trusting myself

I have to be honest. The last week has been the most triggering week (for cravings) that I’ve experienced in many years. Every major Canadian media outlet decided to pick up the legalization story and bombard the public with facts on the upcoming changes to the law. I have seen more HD video of cannabis buds in the past week than I have in the past several years. That, coupled with the fact that local dispensaries in my city were clearing out their products at bargain basement prices, caused me real temptation to go ahead and try moderation for the millionth time. It might not have been the wisest decision, during this media weed-storm, to meet up with a friend who works in the cannabis industry and tell her about the sleep issues I’ve been having. She explained all about CBD oil; how it’s non-addictive, and is a cure for many ailments. Given my suggestible state, I turned to this forum and posed my question (tiny little thread “CBD oil & addiction”). I was rationalizing heavily, looking for someone out there to enable me (hopefully with facts) to ingest CBD oil, consequence free.

I am so grateful for the heartfelt and insightful replies I received. Each person who chimed in echoed the same wise sentiments: Probably not worth the risk, especially as someone who’s struggled with cannabis addiction.

Thankfully, I took their advice to heart. Legal weed day is now upon us in Canada, and I can still hold my head high (pun intended). I did not cave to my cravings, but powered through them. I trust myself, and continue to walk a path that suits me. I am staying clear, feeling strong.

Once again, I thank each and every one of you. Whether you known it or not, your presence on this forum matters. Together we help each other make wiser choices and steer our lives in a better direction.

WL

[Cali-Detroit]

Way to be WL, that's a HUGE win! It just goes to show how powerful the pull can be, even after so many years. I'm so glad you shared this here, very inspiring. While we're at it....

Benefits:

-Now employed full-time and actually remembering the stuff to do the job

-Credit score is up 40 pts. Not great, but out of the weeds and working toward getting the family a decent vehicle that's less than 10 years old!

-Savings account growing steadily

-Seeing very tiny slivers of hope for the future

It's still a raging struggle mentally, I won't lie, but I know I can push through another 6 months now, and then another, and another.... hopefully at some point, the brain will shift.

Holding on to hope....

[wakinglife]

Shedding my shell (like a lobster)

A guest presenter at school the other day described how a lobster will shed its shell several times per year (fact check: turns out that adult lobsters shed every year or two). Regardless, the message behind the metaphor was that whenever the discomfort of the current shell gets to be unbearable, the lobster then grows a new one, busting free of the old, constraining one. If we stay constantly comfortable in our shell (even if it’s one that no longer “fits” us) we never have the impetus to transform and transcend our current limitations. It’s the discomfort that motivates us. If we numb ourselves with cannabis (in my personal case) we never truly feel the discomfort required to make a change. We feel numbly content to make the best of what we have. We feel a cloudy, slightly-disconnected, blissful haze, that takes us from the here and now— that actually blocks us from being fully present.

Recently, I was fighting a feeling of inner discomfort, particularly as it manifested as restless sleep and anxiety around work stress. I was tempted to go back to the canna-cure— get high and watch my stress and anxiety evaporate. I’ll admit, it was very tempting. Things came to a boiling point over the last 48 hours (precipitated by dinner party conversation around career and midlife crises, bubbling over into a BIG TALK I had with my wife about how frustrated and unfulfilled I feel about my current work situation). But, because of my ability to feel into myself, to drill deep and see what was actually going on inside me, I was able to clearly articulate how I am feeling.

I’ve reached a major decision to do a career path change, and get my masters in counseling. Had I been numbed or confused by weed, I doubt I could have reached this place of self-awareness. This plan feels like a bold step, but the right decision for me and my family. It will be a multi-year process, but I’m up for the challenge.

Benefit I’ve realized: Being present, cannabis-free, helps me truly check in and decide if I’m going down a life path that’s right for me. I am grateful for the clarity of mind that allows me to make tough decisions and adjust the course of my life accordingly. I am moving from a place of inner integrity, shedding my shell, living with purpose and passion.

[Bagobones]

Shedding my shell (like a lobster)

A guest presenter at school the other day described how a lobster will shed its shell several times per year (fact check: turns out that adult lobsters shed every year or two). Regardless, the message behind the metaphor was that whenever the discomfort of the current shell gets to be unbearable, the lobster then grows a new one, busting free of the old, constraining one. If we stay constantly comfortable in our shell (even if it’s one that no longer “fits” us) we never have the impetus to transform and transcend our current limitations. It’s the discomfort that motivates us. If we numb ourselves with cannabis (in my personal case) we never truly feel the discomfort required to make a change. We feel numbly content to make the best of what we have. We feel a cloudy, slightly-disconnected, blissful haze, that takes us from the here and now— that actually blocks us from being fully present.

Recently, I was fighting a feeling of inner discomfort, particularly as it manifested as restless sleep and anxiety around work stress. I was tempted to go back to the canna-cure— get high and watch my stress and anxiety evaporate. I’ll admit, it was very tempting. Things came to a boiling point over the last 48 hours (precipitated by dinner party conversation around career and midlife crises, bubbling over into a BIG TALK I had with my wife about how frustrated and unfulfilled I feel about my current work situation). But, because of my ability to feel into myself, to drill deep and see what was actually going on inside me, I was able to clearly articulate how I am feeling.

I’ve reached a major decision to do a career path change, and get my masters in counseling. Had I been numbed or confused by weed, I doubt I could have reached this place of self-awareness. This plan feels like a bold step, but the right decision for me and my family. It will be a multi-year process, but I’m up for the challenge.

Benefit I’ve realized: Being present, cannabis-free, helps me truly check in and decide if I’m going down a life path that’s right for me. I am grateful for the clarity of mind that allows me to make tough decisions and adjust the course of my life accordingly. I am moving from a place of inner integrity, shedding my shell, living with purpose and passion.

There you go walkinglife. Finding the root cause and taking the difficult, thus more rewarding route out of your stress problem! And you brought inn your wife too, so now you have her full support as well (If I have understood the oposite sex correctly, hehehe, its a difficult thing!). My brother inlaw just started work at his new career. He is 51...

Benefits for me? Not so important, but my friends keep biking in the forrest with those 10 000 dollar mountain bikes. I wanted to join inn, but 10 000? Wich are dropping in price every time you go out, until you have lost a fortune? No way..

So I got stoned instead. For a long time, while they where biking and having fun in the forrest, laughing of cheap, broke me. After I sobered up, I had another look at it. Well offcourse, my stoned head had never thought about picking up the used ones when the bikers were buying their new bikes... So I checked the marked and got one for 2000 dollars. Still WAY too much. But this one I could sell at the end of the season for 2000 dollars.. Actually 2200 dollars. I got a good deal on it.. So now I knew if i serviced them myself and bought them used, I could actually earn some dimes on the bikes that I could not figure out for the last 7 years of my stoner life.. So this summer started with an awesome Specialized bike, until I sold it for 100 dollars more than I bought it for, and spent on it. Then a Transition bike I got a good deal on. Now I am slaying the trails on my Rocky Mountain Slayer, bought used for a very good price. Much better bike. I still haven`t sold my Transition bike as it compliments the Slayer.. Apart from that, I got a job as a bike messanger a few nights a week in the city... Paid excersise, bike training, and an awesome crew of lunatics as my coworkers on the gig. And my savings are still intact. Its actually growing a little because of the very expensive bikes...

This is my second season out on the trails biking, and now this season the guys I never got to bike with because of the expensive bikes they where riding, comes to me for advice about repair, good deals on bikes and so on. And I am in better shape for biking than they are.. So why stop with bikes? Now I want an excpencive car!

I am addicted to that kind of thinking now. Problem solving.

I am in no way a car guy. My friend has a Lamborghini. I would pay money to not drive in that embarrassing, noisy, uncomfortable, piece of midlife crisis. That`s how little cars interests me. Or Lambos are really fun on the tracks for racing, or the snowtracks for drifting, but its a lot better cheaper cars for track racing, and snow drifting...

I really want a Tesla Model X for trips, but no waaaaay i am using 150 000 dollars for one. That is the most common car in this city! And once you have driven a Tesla, its hard to get something else, even though your not a car guy. And this area has them all. I have driven them all, so, if you reading this disagree, go away with your arguements on what car is best. You have probably never driven the luxury cars you drule over, and watch on youtube. I drive them every day. End of story. Its just where I live. The Tesla town full of oil money.
In 2015 I was watching Elon on youtube, while smoking, and accepting that I was not going to have a Model X. Just the rest of the city, but not me. I had weed, I did not need a Model X!! hehe.
I think next year my sober brain has brought a Model x to my garage, and I have not paid 150k dollars for it.. Or I might have paid a lot for it, but I will know how to get the money for it back again, without losing on it. Sober brain is working hard on it and cant let the problem go...

That is one of the benefits I have. Its just not dreams anymore. My sober brain, while day-dreaming a lot, now starts to make plans on how to get to those dreams and goals, not just smoke another one and be content with not biking and not having a Tesla in my garage!

Well, this ended up a long post, and now I have to start packing. My sober brain is taking me to Hounduras tomorrow, with a surf board my stoner brain had left untouched for 10 years. My stoned brain always wanted to speak Spanish and surf again. It never happened. My stoned brain told me that I missed my shot when I chose Spanish away in highschool. My stoned brain told me that surfing was not for people over 40. I had missed my chance...
My sober brain thought it was a great idea and not a challange at all to learn Spanish, and told me Honduras has both Surf and Spanish! Así que ahora aprendo un poco más de Español cada día. So now I learn a little more Spanish every day.

I am proud of you, Walkinglife. You handled this like a champ.

[cleanofgreen]

@Wakinglife congrats on the career change, it's never too late, I'm doing the same myself. And way to go for not giving into the temptation when all is legalized in Canada.

@Bagobones I like the way your thinking now, changing your view of problems into challenges instead and visualizing yourself having the things you want and making plans for there attainment instead of giving up and taking the easy path of the stoner. I can see you driving your Tesla right now with a cheesy smile on your face

[wakinglife]

12 years, 4 months free from cannabis use! I need to remember how far I have come— I smoked for over 20 years, then broke the habit. I’m so grateful for the encouragement I’ve received on this forum (particularly about a month ago, when my commitment to clarity was nearly compromised). To each person who has read a post on this thread, or contributed a post to this forum, I say, “Thank you!”

The clarity and peace of mind I now enjoy are largely a result of staying committed to reading and posting on this forum, which has helped me stay on this path of self-discovery and positive growth.

Cheers!

WL

[Rikagain]

Wakinglife,

Congratulations on 12 years 4 months free, a truly amazing achievement!

Thank you so much for starting this thread, your kind wise words and the support of many others on here have helped me get to 20 months cannabis free. (A big thanks to all).

Also, good luck with your career change in becoming a counsellor, I've no doubt you'll be fantastic at it.

There can be no greater gift than the gift of hope........Thank you.

Much peace

Rik

[wakinglife]

Happy to welcome another 22nd day of the month. Even after all this time off cannabis, it’s fun to acknowledge how far I’ve come. 12 years, 5 months off the stuff, to be precise. I’ve ebjoyed the clarity of drinking less at the Christmas parties of late. It feels like quitting weed was the first big step towards health— leading to shifts in the way I live my life. For example, I was showing some old pictures to my son the other day (culling through my dad’s photo collection) and we both noticed that I look way healthier and stronger now than I did 15 years ago. Not quite sure how at age 45 I look better than I did at 30; but being weed free gives me the motivation to get out and get active.

A word of encouragement for those who are quitting during the holiday season: go easy on yourself, and avoid situations where you will most likely slip. Reward yourself when you achieve a goal you’ve set, even it it’s just a small goal. Heading to Mexico with my wife tomorrow, so this is likely my sign off until the New Year. I wish everyone a fun holiday season, in which you get to spend time with the ones you love the most!

Peace,

WL

[bjamin]

After 4 years on/off browsing this website I finally decided to create an account and post my story, even if no one reads anymore it will feel good to know I’ve contributed.

As many others here I got to a point in my life (21ish) where daily cannabis use was taking its toll, I smoked daily from the age of 15. Mostly evening/weekend/any off days.

I gave up but dabbled in using every now and then with friends, the years since have often included full relapses in to daily smoking.

I am now 29 and recently went through a full relapse, eventually deciding to give it up again completely in the new year, only to relapse again at the start of February.

This is day 3 of no weed again and this drug has such a powerful ability to lull you in to a false sense of needing and wanting, if you get me. I’ve gone months without in the past few years but always come back to thinking that infrequent cannabis use is a good thing, or that it’s something I can achieve.

It’s not.

It seems I’m attracted to it whenever I feel discontent in life, and it’s like the weed wraps it’s arms around me and makes everything feel good again, but it doesn’t take long to feel like it’s strangling me again.

It doesn’t help that my only close friends are daily smokers, and I love hip hop/rap. When I see these friends it’s like their brains are seeping out of their ears, all they talk about is weed, they say they use weed because it helps with anxiety and yet if they are close to running out they crumble, I think I’ve accepted that these friends are a part of my past. And my music taste doesn’t matter, it’s not like I can’t enjoy or appreciate hip hop without being involved in weed culture.

I know I can get rid of it once and for all, it’s not something I’m concerned about as such, it’s more accepting that I no longer want it to be a part of my life, even to a small degree. I guess it’s kinda like growing up.

The stories on here will continue to inspire me, some benefits from previous quitting and the last 3 days for me is clearer thinking, the ability to deal with stressful situations at work/dealing with clients/meetings is just so much easier with no brain fog or weed hangover. I’m so much more willing to go out of my comfort zone and push myself which feels great. Sleeping sucks but I don’t feel as bad the next day if I have a bad night.

And everything feels more positive, it’s like every time I give it up my true self is on a natural high, freeing myself.

Thanks to everyone on here and especially wakinglife, and if anyone is contemplating giving it up then I cannot recommend enough you listen to that voice and do it.

[Guzy]

Hi, I have recently been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. I want to quit smoking weed and cigarettes because I have learned that they may contribute to manic episodes. I have been a chronic user on and off for thirty years. I definitely feel imprisoned by my use! I want to have emotional stability and allow the prescribed drugs and the psychotherapy that I am doing to have a real chance to work. I have not smoke today and I feel agitated and depressed. I am throwing away everything for the millionth time and I desperately want relief. It doesn’t help that the guy I have been seeing for the last two years is a stoner. Not sure what to do about that, just trying to focus on myself for now. Thanks and send me your good vibes.

[Rikagain]

TWO YEARS!

Welcome bjamin and Guzy, it's great you've made the decision to quit and I hope you're doing well and starting to feel some benefits.

Yesterday I reached two years since quitting (after 30 years smoking) and I just keep feeling better and better!
I can't stress enough how much this forum has helped me, hearing other people's stories of their journey has given me the strength to get this far.

I thank you all for your honesty, integrity and wisdom. There can be no greater gift than the gift of hope.

Much peace to all,

Rik.

[Leon12]

Hey,
Already read a lot of stories on various resources and it really deserves respect! After all, drug addiction - perhaps one of the strongest. You need to break yourself, break your subconscious, to give up this infection forever!
I myself am still in the process of rehabilitation (almost a year clean). Every time when there are any problems, any difficulties, my part of the brain responsible for the addiction instantly turns on to full capacity and tries to lure me back to the dark side. It is very difficult, it seems that this is the best way out, that it will be better. It's horrible. Fair. This is a daily struggle with yourself, in which you can not lose concentration, otherwise there will be a failure.

All peace and good! Be clean!

[bjamin]

TWO YEARS!

Welcome bjamin and Guzy, it's great you've made the decision to quit and I hope you're doing well and starting to feel some benefits.

Yesterday I reached two years since quitting (after 30 years smoking) and I just keep feeling better and better!
I can't stress enough how much this forum has helped me, hearing other people's stories of their journey has given me the strength to get this far.

I thank you all for your honesty, integrity and wisdom. There can be no greater gift than the gift of hope.

Much peace to all,

Rik.

Thank you for the welcome!

It hasn’t been going well, in fact I started using every day again. I started to justify it again with the ‘it’s just weed and it’s my only vice’ thing but got to the point again where I just feel miserable and disassociated to myself.

Funny thing is, I really tried to get back in to using again everyday by persuading myself but I just can’t do it, which is a good thing!

I wonder if all these millions of people who use are right, they don’t suffer in the same way like people on this forum do, so why can’t I be like that? Is it just my head not allowing it or does weed just not affect these people in the same way? Or are they living with these same issues but just not aware.

Yeah, I’m thinking a lot about this! But at the moment I’m 2 days clean again and already remembering the benefits.