Benefits of being off weed

bjamin wrote:

Rikagain wrote: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.

This is an eternal problem - dependence subordinates to its will, motivating it with various absurd factors. Man is weak by nature, so you shouldn’t get very upset; we were made like this by mother nature. It is necessary to completely separate from bad thoughts, take a sport, revise your life and, if possible, change it. Learn something new, change yourself.

The website habitgrams helped me to be off weed.

rgborja,78 No such thing of website habitgrams...i tried to look it up..No go

I hope all of you made it through 4/20 with your weed sobriety intact. I was singing the praises of online support communities in a post I made on the "Leaves" subReddit. If interested, here's a link to my post:
https://redd.it/bfpkgo

Tomorrow will be 12 years, 9 months off weed. One of the biggest benefits I appreciate is a level of joy and well-being that can last for hours (longer than the high from a joint, for sure). I invite you to get involved in this online community: post your story, add the benefits you've noticed to this thread, read the stories of others and offer support. Together, we are stronger than our addictions.

wakinglife wrote:I hope all of you made it through 4/20 with your weed sobriety intact. I was singing the praises of online support communities in a post I made on the "Leaves" subReddit. If interested, here's a link to my post:
https://redd.it/bfpkgo

Tomorrow will be 12 years, 9 months off weed. One of the biggest benefits I appreciate is a level of joy and well-being that can last for hours (longer than the high from a joint, for sure). I invite you to get involved in this online community: post your story, add the benefits you've noticed to this thread, read the stories of others and offer support. Together, we are stronger than our addictions.

I read that post on Reddit yesterday, reminded me of this forum (and my goals).

Yet to fully quit but I know that I’m going to. I’m mustering the confidence to throw out my vaporiser and to accept that I’m going to have to neglect certain friends.

I know it’s doing me more damage than good, one of my best friends uses weed to get through the day. He says if he doesn’t have a few bong hits in the morning he has crippling anxiety. But then if he’s at risk of running out of weed or can’t have a hit when he needs one he can’t function... quite the contradiction.

A benefit to mention (when I gave up for a year or so before) is less being less in your head and self critical. For the past 6 months I’ve been using it has felt like a confused insecure blur, yet my justification is that the weed is helping me through a bad time.

The plan is to throw the vaporiser out today! Wish me luck, onwards and upwards people, looking forward to all the benefits I know that will come!!

Forgot to mention another element which makes giving up weed harder - I love rap and hip hop!! A few artists I listen to are weed advocates.

In the grand scheme it isn’t a big deal but Mary Jane uses it as a great excuse to not give up...

bjamin wrote:Forgot to mention another element which makes giving up weed harder - I love rap and hip hop!! A few artists I listen to are weed advocates.

In the grand scheme it isn’t a big deal but Mary Jane uses it as a great excuse to not give up...

Plenty of other good music out there

I used to listen to old school hip hop but my tastes have changed. My attitude has changed too for the better.

JoeBloggs wrote:

bjamin wrote:Forgot to mention another element which makes giving up weed harder - I love rap and hip hop!! A few artists I listen to are weed advocates.

In the grand scheme it isn’t a big deal but Mary Jane uses it as a great excuse to not give up...

Plenty of other good music out there

I used to listen to old school hip hop but my tastes have changed. My attitude has changed too for the better.

Yeah your right. Funny thing is when I give weed up I don’t enjoy the same music as much. I’ve started listening to playlists instead, like beatstrumental, chill out.

Whereas when I’m high I tend to listen to the same artists again and again, and also notice that I stick to music I’m nostalgic about but this has a bad effect on me as I try to recapture memories or feelings, try to stick to the past.

This leads me to another benefit of being off weed, I live more in the moment and less scared of the future. The high me yearns for the past and can’t accept the present.

I wanted to post a quick note of thanks to the UncommonForum community. I have been spending time on Reddit’s r/leaves lately, being reminded of why I don’t want to go back to my days of smoking weed like a fiend. There are many posters on there, but the posts seem to cycle through pretty quickly— the fast pace of the internet and all. Spending time there reminded me of what a great forum THIS is. There are people who have been on here for years, reading, sharing and offering support.

I am so glad I put my cannabis addiction behind me. I just want to say THANKS! for being a part of my journey.

Current benefit of being off weed: Feeling grateful and very open today.

Some random musings from a long-term quitter. As I creep up on 13 years cannabis free (July 22), I am still so grateful that I gave up smoking. If I had continued the daily weed intake until now, I’m not sure I’d have the life I am living right now.

Admittedly, there are stretches after quitting for some time that I get the “just now and then” cravings— those are the times that the “addict” (I don’t love that label) tells me I’ve proven I don’t need it; therefore it’s okay to indulge now and then. Thanks to friends, exercise, nature, Uncommon Forum, I can get back to clear thinking and acknowledge that smoking weed would offer some small temporary relief, followed by feeling tired and irritable (potentially craving more to get back to emotional baseline).

I am proud to say that I have not caved. I feel tremendous inner fortitude that I no longer rely on THC to give me an elevated mood. I rely on good food, laughs with friends, connecting with people who care about me. I am far more emotionally available as a nonsmoker. I have emerged from the weed cloud and appreciate the clarity that comes from living up to my potential.

Thanks for the support over the years, fellow quitters. Together, we’ve got this!

Hey Wakinglife,

Just wanted to say thank you. Your writings are really helpful in giving insights of what to expect after quitting. It's really awesome to have 13 years worth of your experiences here to aid us in our own journeys. This September I'll be 2 years weed free. I can't believe it. I got out of the dark tunnel and stepped foot in the light without even realising it. It does get better.

My happiness no longer comes from a bag. You wrote something like this before, and I believe it will stick in my mind forever. It's the truth.

Thanks again mate. Cheers.

Thanks for the kind words, SoulFull,

It's awesome to hear that my experience has been able to help others. I'm so looking forward to Monday, when I officially hit my 13 years cannabis free. Encouraging posts like yours keep me on track. Congrats on 2 years to you!

Made it to 13 years weed free!

Feeling a sense of self pride and accomplishment that I've made it this far. No going back now: sticking with that weed free life!

Thanks to all of you for making this journey possible!

WL

I’ve never posted to a forum before, so here goes. I first fell in love wth Mary Jane at age 16. Casual user for a number of years, but for the last 25 years smoked a couple of grams daily, often wake and bake. At age 53, I realized that it was time to break up with the weed. Thank you wakinglife for starting this thread and your inspiration.
Today marks the fourth month of my freedom, and while the first three months were difficult., the benefits far outweighed the withdrawal symptoms. I experienced everything others have posted on here so I won’t go into those, here are some others that I have noticed.
In the last couple of weeks my eyesight and hearing have improved, I no longer need my reading glasses in every situation anymore. My hearing is much better and can hear sounds I was missing in my pot haze. My skin is much more youthful and I feel younger (less aches and pains). What’s left of my hair feels fuller and thicker and the bald spot on top seems to be filling in! Also I no longer crave tobacco like I used to when I smoked pot.
Although I had one severe episode of PAWS just short of the third month I persevered and every day seems to get better and better. Best thing I’ve ever done for myself is admitting that I am a marijuana addict and taking action.

What an amazing thread! I became aware of this a couple years or so ago I think when I'd say starting to find the inspiration to quit weed. It's taken me till now to really get serious about it, and this page definitely helped me get there and has definitely helped me thru the first twelve days of quitting. Thank you wakinglife for starting it so many years ago. I had wondered whatever happened to wakinglife as I hadn't read everything back then. Then I come back in and find that you're still around and 13 years away from the plant! What an amazing inspiration that is for someone like me just realizing how much this plant had set me back. You completely solidified what I already thought I was figuring out. I'm 38 and got a late start as I put other priorities ahead of drugs early in life I guess, so it's been around 10 years on it. At first, it was used more so I could minimize alcoholism. Something I've always struggled some with. With alcoholism, you pretty much can control when and if you have the first drink. What I found while being on the herb is that I had way less control over that first drink as well. Lot of help, haha. So one of my positives is being able to resist other temptations as the weed weakened me. I also found myself so socially inept in ways, and completely with a hair trigger temper especially when I was coming down or hadn't had in a good while. I can't believe what I've put my family and friends thru. Some without them even know it. It's only been not only a couple weeks off, so I'm still going thru some of the initial negatives like headaches, loss of appetite, min. sex drive (all of a sudden), crazy dreams, etc, but man, I feel soooo much stronger than ever. I finally feel like I'm getting back to myself. I was born incredibility driven in so many ways, and weed stripped me of so much of that while I was on. It completely fooled me into thinking I was one of the few that could push thru and be just as good, even though I really knew. I already feel it just surging back, I want better for myself and my family again. I can't believe how unfair I have been to them all these years. Another positive I can't wait to test out is going on vacation without my tension escalating from not having it as we often drive far or fly, and I was never willing to take the risk, nor did I think I could pull off hiding it in close proximity. I know people had to think, dang, this guy can't even relax on vacation. Little did they know that I was missing weed bad. I found myself not even wanting to plan vacations as I was afraid of going without. I stayed home from work to get some things today for the first time since I started to quit, and it is hitting me a little. When I did this before, it was a free pass to smoke as much as I wanted and walk around my home in delirium. I've gotten more done by noon today than I used to get done all day. While I'm feeling it, I know I won't give in. With the strength this forum has helped me find, I threw all my stuff out after a week off. Was a little harder than I thought, but I did it. It would take me going way out of my way to get anything now, so I know I will have to deal with reality that I am giving up, and going against everything I know to be the right path forward. Again, thanks for starting this wakinglife. Myself an many others have and are prospering because of it. The lack of things like this online just support how deceptive of a drug weed is. Amazing we let a "bag of dry plant parts" wakinglife control our lives like that. Good luck to all fighting the good fight. I'll keep finding strength from all of you.

I actually just realized I had posted on here when I was quitting a while back. It took thinking I could do it just once and I was habitual instantly again, and it took me down the path a long while more. Just emphasizes what many on here already have learned, it only takes one hit. I know if does for me. In my situation, I can't ever allow the first one.