Benefits of being off weed

Great to have you all on board. The motivation of new blood is invaluable here. Hope you all can continue to stay focused and post here as often as needed.

Turtle, your disclosure to your friend showed great accountability and that is a major success key. Glad your stash is gone too. That would have weighed heavy on me if I'd been in your shoes.

Clever, you are right about everyone being different. I didn't have half the issues i have read here people have dealt with after quitting. I don't think that will discourage anyone either. Perhaps even encourage someone on the fence. Anyhow, glad to have you all entering the New Year with this sort of motivation.

Day 23....I love my energy level...I love the fact I don't need as much coffee during the day. (especially in those foggy mornings)....breathing much better (walking up a long flight of stairs- I really noticed it.) I now wave at Police Officers instead of having a mild panic attack. (It is truly amazing I never got busted after 27 years of doping, although I came close.)

The dreams have now turned vivid and cool not as freaky as earlier posted. (Thank God!!!!)

Question to my faceless friends....I'm done with the daily grind of smoking every day......but can I ever smoke again?...Part time?...like a reward???

Wondering

wouldn't bother to be honest mate I gave up after 10 years 15 months ago and in the last couple of months have been smoking occasionally again as a "reward" it is not worth it mate trust me. you do get really stoned which is alright and it's good that you can just do it occasionally unlike before but all the old problems that made you stop in the first place start to creep back in and you end up berating yourself for starting again in the first place and wasting all your good work. find something to replace it with is my advice, you have done the weed part of your life move onto something else. says me who is waiting on a quarter tomorrow but trust me it is not worth going back. hello by the way.

also you will start to smoke more and more that is what I am doing and it could end up with you right back at square one and you would hate that, I know I would.

you know what your biggest enemy is ? boredom. that is why I started again. you do the same stuff you are just not stoned is the only difference. it doesn't help if you associate with the same people and they are smoking all the time too.

Hey David,

The objective, i believe, is to rid yourself for the need to have drugs as a means to reward yourself. i do not know what brought you to the point to where drugs became a negative issue in your life. But from what i have gathered and understand, if you are an addict, putting the stuff into your system in any amount eventually puts you back into the hole you dug in the first place.

You can use again at anytime, but not without the risk of chasing your tail in the addictive process. As I have told others here, if you decide you are a "special case" and can live a life of part time use, go for it. And keep us posted as to your "progress". I say all of this, because personally, i tried to no avail, to reshape the way i used in every way imaginable, with the same results. You can read this same scenerio multiple times by several members of this community. My signature statement plainly sums it up for me. I heard in rehab once, that, if you aren't sick and tired of being sick and tired, maybe you ain't had enough.

That's my two cents. I sound like a broken record on this subject, but it is only to try and sway you from going right back to square one. You got some days strung together. The reward is you are free today from the dependency of the stuff. Why blow that?

Wondering myself

it's up to you though. if you do have a wee smoke from time to time as a reward don't feel guilty about it. I was stoned every day for 10 years then in the last 15 months I have been stoned maybe 20 times, that is a big improvement. just don't let it get out of hand again. tomorrow I will rent bob marley live from the tv and smoke maybe 2 straight grass joints, and I am really looking forward to it so it's not all bad, though my head will be a bit of a mess for a while after and I will be left with a pile of weed I will end up smoking quite alot for a week or so to get rid of it so I know I shouldn't do it but after new year (another major problem will get into that another time maybe) I will try and cut down alot.

CleverUserName wrote:I've gotten chills, had my fist in the air, or have been overwhelmed by a sense of promise and hope.

I hear you! I check in here to keep the wind in my sails, and some posts really keep me going. We may all be feeling similar things; it is great how some people put it into words so eloquently.

P.S. Regarding the question of moderate use: I can only say that it has been an impossibility for me. I am fortunate to have a series of journals that recount 10 years plus of trying to moderate my cannabis intake. I have come to the conclusion that I am a person who is incapable of regulating my smoking. As this list of benefits gets longer, and longer, I really have no urge to go back to it now. It's a bit "been there, done that".

Another benefit I am feeling is a shift in my conception of smoking: It seems so bizarre to me now, the concept that I spent years of my life burning plants and inhaling the smoke. I don't care what anyone else has to say about it: I will not deliberately take smoke into my body any longer. I am feeling way happier without it.

Cheers going out to all those who are reaching their goals!

Hi, I signed up to tell..

I gave up after hitting 'my bottom' as I turned up with money for a cool ounce of soapbar (hash) and spent most of it on 5/8 of posh pollen as there was nothing else around, and a drought was forecast. I proceeded to smoke it super fast to combat the stress of having no more on the horizon! I remember feeling really down as I sat alone smoking it, and that memory is a great one to keep me away! I was also a bit of an a**hole to those around me.

True, the unavailability helped during the first few days, but I understood that the drug wasn't my friend and so there hasn't been much effort involved since. (It's readily available again now).

I was using for 15 years since I was around 18, averaging 1/2 oz. per week and there has been no motivation to improve my life thanks to the drug. I never had a relationship, and my friends were all slipping away- smokers and non-smokers. I looked back at the time before I smoked, and I was much happier then. This just bolsters my idea that pot is bad! Another great factor is my dreams- I never have nightmares really (or dreams which I interpret as nightmares) but I have dreamt that I'm smoking again, and on waking I have felt 'stoned' - just morning grogginess really, but I felt utter disappointment in myself- followed by elation that it was just a dream!

It's only been a month or so, but I feel much more confident in social situations, my bank balance is healthier and the pain I was starting to get in my chest and lower legs has disappeared. My friendships are slowly getting better (I'm inviting people round for dinner!) and I'm a nicer person all round.

We are all different, so I won't judge those who use the 'reward method' after a period of abstainence. But for me, the fact that I don't see the drug as a positive thing any more is the biggest single factor, and the rest is easy. Now though, I'm chain smoking cigarettes but I'm not inhaling nearly as deeply as if they were spliffs. That's next on the hit list, but one step at a time!

I understand that I'm a total 'hashaholic' and one toke will likely have me back on the stuff full time again, so I'm focusing on that feeling of disappointment I got when waking up from a 'smoking dream' for sure!

Good luck to others out there, and I'll check in again to let you know how it's going. Thanks for a cool thread!

Wellcome Mr Mad

Glad to see another here

hey mr madeupname

your story rings alot of bells with mine, i stopped in the first place because its been harder to get in scotland the past 6 months, and i started getting depressed when i was running low and constantly having to go trailing about looking for new stuff every few nights

you say its 'only' been a month, when i got to a month it felt like a huge achievement, you should be proud, WELL DONE,
im on 10 weeks and i can assure you the longer you go the easier it is to stay clean

ive had alot of these dreams aswell but once i wake up properly im just so glad it was only a dream and it helps to stay clean, ive been having them about coke aswell tho and wake up wanting a fat line

the worst part is out the way for you its that first month that everyone thinks is the toughest, you got to go through the bad to get to the good
good luck and take care
p.s welcome to the site

Thanks for your support Jettech and fresh-

Yes, a month is a long time, but there I was listing the benefits of being off it after a month, so it's OK to use the word!

I sure am proud of myself! Today will be a challenge though (it's 1-30am as I write) as my flatmate is hosting an all day D&D bonanza- it stands for 'Dungeons and Dragons' but today it will also mean 'Drink and Drugs' including the Bolivian marching powder..I've been invited to join, but a couple of pints is where I'm stopping at. Also I think Dungeons and Dragons is dull as hell so that helps!

I've never had coke beyond the odd line every other year or so, so I can't imagine what coming off that might be like but bloody good luck with it.

I was smoking 2-4 times per day, probably going through an oz. in 2 or 3 weeks.

I was hurting today. I still haven't smoked. I know I would be tempted to if I still had access.

One other benefit I've noticed is that my vision is better.

Keep up the fight, everyone. I somehow feel obligated to the other members to stay strong and stick with the program. Exercise helps a lot, both physically and mentally.

One of the tips I've read for dealing with the symptoms of withdrawal is to give up caffeine. I drink 2 cups of strong coffee a day, and I get headaches if I don't have them. When I stopped smoking, I followed this advice and cut down to 1 cup, but I was in agony. I went back to 2 cups and it made me feel better. I think our bodies can't adjust to so many changes at once. BTW, the coffee has not increased my desire to smoke.

Don't do it! I don't think any of us would be in this situation (or need this forum) if we could smoke moderately - the abilitiy to take or leave it. That's the way I am with alcohol - I enjoy it, but I can take it or leave it. I wish I could be the same way with pot, but I can't.

It sounds like you need to try to avoid the people and situations that are going to end in your smoking again. Do you really want to go through the pain of stopping again?