Benefits of being off weed

freedomfighter wrote:Thank you wakinglife for starting this thread and your inspiration.

You're welcome, freedomfighter. I hope you continue to see benefits and keep the forum updated on your progress!

soldieroflife wrote:What an amazing thread!

Stoked that you came back and found inspiration, soldieroflife! I really love reading posts like yours; you remind me of how far I have come. The part about being grumpy on vacation because you had no weed was very relateable. It seems surreal that that was true for me, as well, a few years ago.

Your story helps keep me on track. I look forward to hearing more updates as you continue on this path towards a more authentic and balanced life.

I offer a personal thank you to each person who has read this thread, or contributed to it in some way over these last thirteen years. Here are my thoughts today as I finish my coffee:

I see the longterm benefits of quitting weed as accumulating over time, sort of like compound interest. For example, since I quit, I am more able to turn on my extroverted side (I'm inclined towards introversion, and more intimate social settings with fewer than 10 people) when needed. By putting myself out there -- because I have less of that socially-anxious inner teen chirping in my head -- I am able to make connections with people I might not have spoken to when I was a stoner. By getting interested in other peoples' stories, I learn more about the world, expand my views, try new things, and stretch from my familiar comfort zone.

What I'm alluding to here is this: when I used to spend a lot of my free time smoking cannabis, I was in a comfort bubble of familiar stoner pals, doing familiar things, just looping "Groundhog Day"-style through the years. Repeating this pattern for the better part of a decade (I wasn't chronic for all the years I smoked -- just the last half of my addiction phase of life) leads to a stunted way of being.

Extended metaphor warning:
I was like a bonzai tree, confined to a pot (pun intended), roots stunted, self-pruning, and limiting my exposure to the natural elements of life. Here I am now: I am growing to my full potential. I've shattered the pot, stretched out my roots. The elements are raw, wild, and do batter my leaves from time to time. But guess what? I'm growing! The exposure and hardship strengthens my bark, helps my branches stay pliable when they're bufffetted by winds. The sun, rain, snow, hail and fog all help me in different ways -- building resilience. Here I was, a tree, thinking I was a shrub. I am a tree: a tree that can offer shade, beauty, comfort, home for creatures; part of a community-- a forest. I am a tree that grows, and is continuing to grow, to its ful potential. Your stories and engagement water my roots.

My invitation to you: check in with yourself. Feel down into your roots. Stretch up and out into your metaphorical branches. Are you growing to your full potential?

Wow I've always thought weed was a recreational barely addictive and the least harmful of drugs. I couldn't be more wrong it's truely shocking to read what it does to some of you. Im so lucky I guess I've smoked off and on 30 years I can quit with only 24 hours of boredom and mild irratability to worry about. I've always stuck for weed I never will again I'm sorry for being so wrong

Reading an autobiography by Flea (bassist for Red Hot Chili Peppers), and it feels good to know that I am on the same track as recovered rock legends. I smoked weed, as did he, from age 12 into my 30's.

At some point I took stock of my life and decided to try something different (i.e. NOT smoke cannabis daily). It felt like a big step at the time. Looking back, it was a turning point: I moved from eternal adolescence into adulthood. In my experience, adulthood is harder than adolescence in many ways; however, it's more demanding AND more rewarding. Life after weed challenges me to grow, to push out in new directions and experience a wider range of what the world has to offer.

Stay strong, my UncommonForum friends. It keeps on getting better!

wakinglife wrote:Reading an autobiography by Flea (bassist for Red Hot Chili Peppers), and it feels good to know that I am on the same track as recovered rock legends. I smoked weed, as did he, from age 12 into my 30's.

At some point I took stock of my life and decided to try something different (i.e. NOT smoke cannabis daily). It felt like a big step at the time. Looking back, it was a turning point: I moved from eternal adolescence into adulthood. In my experience, adulthood is harder than adolescence in many ways; however, it's more demanding AND more rewarding. Life after weed challenges me to grow, to push out in new directions and experience a wider range of what the world has to offer.

Stay strong, my UncommonForum friends. It keeps on getting better!

Feels great doesn't it? I quit my chronic habit more that a decade ago and still thank God almost every day for helping me to make that life-changing decision.

So here I am at 6 months free, all’s going well, feeling great. After 30 years of thinking about , I have found the motivation to join a martial arts class. I don’t think this would have happened had I still been smoking, another solid benefit.
Also, since I had always budgeted for my addiction, I now take that money and spend it on nice things for myself. The savings are remarkable, approaching $2000! At this rate I will be spoiling myself!

freedomfighter wrote:So here I am at 6 months free, all’s going well, feeling great. After 30 years of thinking about , I have found the motivation to join a martial arts class. I don’t think this would have happened had I still been smoking, another solid benefit.
Also, since I had always budgeted for my addiction, I now take that money and spend it on nice things for myself. The savings are remarkable, approaching $2000! At this rate I will be spoiling myself!

Thanks for posting this, FreedomFighter! Reading about other people's positive experiences after quitting weed really keeps me motivated.

WL

Making it through the dark season -- life can be a struggle, but at least I don't add the unnecessary struggle of addiction

I live on an island off the coast of Western Canada. At this time of year, this far north of the equator, the days get dimly lit, shorter, and a wee bit more depressing. Truth be told, I have been fighting a virus the last week (some variant of cold/flu), and it has me feeling a little low. That being said, my intention here is to voice honestly how much better I feel (even during relatively low times) without the added burden of cannabis addiction weighing me down.

I am a person who gets a bit more introspective and withdrawn during the winter months. I'm aware that the decrease in daylight hours affects my moods, and I live with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) for this portion of the year. I have the lamp, and should probably dust it off and set it in front of me while I have my breakfast and coffee each morning (note to self). In my younger years, I would heavily self-medicate during the winter: lots of binge drinking, smoking way more weed, dabbling into other mind-altering substances (coke, MDMA, psilocybin, etc.), and generally putting forth a best effort at escaping the mildly-depressed existence I inhabited (within the confines of my own psyche). These efforts, to get as f***ed up as possible, gaining a few hours of blissful ignorance each week, did nothing to address the deeper underlying issues: mild depression, variable social anxiety, and negative self-talk (super-strong inner critic voice nattering away in my head). The thing is, ever since discovering substances in early adolescence, I thought they were my personal ticket to happiness.

I'm a bit older and wiser -- 46, acknowledging that my life is roughly halfway through. I still enjoy having a drink, and dabbling in mind-altering pursuits, but those methods don't really help me in the long run. I'm learning that isolating is not a great option for me during the dark months of the year. It gives me too much time to ruminate on my own thoughts. Socializing at this time of year, however, tends to include copious quantities of booze. I guess I need to find the balance: a drink or two during a night out does not really set me back the next day. The issue arises when I throw caution to the wind and start knocking them back like I'm in my early 20s. Hangovers, in your 40s, are no party.

Substances have their place in society. Some people can drink in moderation (as I can). Others are able to take it or leave it with cannabis (as I can NOT). I am grateful that after all these years free from the habitual smoking pattern of roll, blaze, high/crash, repeat, I CAN make conscious choices about what I put into my body. I have an awareness that smoking weed is not going to actually benefit me. Getting super drunk, also, NOT going to benefit me. This clarity of awareness (in part, due to the clarity that comes from not being stuck on the hamster wheel of problematic weed use) is a blessing to me. I can see my situation through clear eyes. I can acknowledge that dark times (in the past) have led me to poor choices. Here I am, taking a clear look in the mirror, and saying to the world: "Yep. I get depressed in the winter. But I know the things that will actually help me."

So, after I close the laptop I'm writing on, I will do some of those things that actually help me. I'm going to start a load of laundry and head to the gym. I'm going to get outside today while the sun's feeble rays are highest in the sky. I'll reach out to some pals and see if one of them wants to go for a hike, or grab a coffee. I will do the self-care practices (meditation, stretching, creative outlets) that feed me and fill me.

Thanks for reading. Posting here so openly helps me get back in touch with how far I've come. I know what is good for me, and I'm going to go and do those things now.

All the best to you during the holidays!

WL

Checking in at just over three months weed free. it truly is freeing realizing some of the benefits. I tend to forget sometimes till I check in here. I've found a ton more energy to start a gym routine and actually stick with it. Before it would always end before I could really build into a habit due to being drug down by weed and losing the motivation. I at first started drinking more on this journey as a crutch. It just brought back my dependence on it. I read a great book called The Power of Habit. Way more technical than I expected, but showed with brain activity how habits form and how you can reform habits over existing ones. Just need to recognize what you're gaining from the one and fill another way. For me, working out has given me more the high (pheremones) that I was getting from smoking and alleviated much of the boredom that took me that route as well. I feel so much more alive than I did for ten yrs smoking. I feel like I'm becoming myself again . Can't believe you'll be able to buy legally in my state of IL in less than a month and now I'm quitting. It makes me nervous. Cannabis is not a positive for society and definitely not me. Glad I started this journey before. Thanks for listening. Congrats to all that are here. Shows you want better for yourself and your life. Weed really does fool you into thinking that things are better. I can tell you they are not for me.

Seven months and still reaping the benefits of abstaining from my life long friend, MaryJane, in 35+ years of using this is the longest I have gone. Went for a MTB ride today and felt stronger than I have in a long time, I think my lungs are really starting to heal now.
Also my brain seems to be working better, as I am finding crossword and sudoku puzzles easier to complete. Meditation is much easier since quitting and I’m progressing with martial arts workouts. Sure, it’s been a long road to recovery and definitely had some discomfort, anxiety, depression and other PAWS symptoms, but I find if I focus on the benefits, the bad stuff tends to dissipate.
Day by day I shall carry on enjoying my new found freedom.

I am filled with gratitude for you and all those who have posted here. I have been reading on and off for more than a decade. After years and years of a progressively bad relationship with weed I am at last able to enjoy the benefits. For two and half years! Really and truly the seed was planted here.
Lol.

There are so many benefits, many surprising, but the best one is being able to live an authentic life with full acceptance and love for myself.

That’s kind of a big deal!
To be okay no matter what thoughts or feeling pass by or unwelcome situations occur around me or to me. I know it’s gonna pass and I know I’m okay.

My mom had Alzheimer’s before she died and we used to refer to old mom and new mom.
I feel like there was the old pothead me- lifeless, unintelligent, numbed out, and isolated and then there is the new sober me - vibrant, alive, clear-headed and connected.

It’s empowering and calming to say the least.

Thank you and everyone here so so much.

i am so glad i found this forum!!! thank you!!!!

some of this has probably been said before but:

1. no fear of an unexpected guest or spontaneously giving someone a ride in my car
2. essential oils smell wonderful again
3. i'm much much cuter! softer skin and lips. whiter eyes, reduced dark circles, smoother complexion
4. i drink WAY less alcohol (when smoking, alcohol would be my fall back when trying to cut down on weed.)
5. waking up ready to face the world, even if i've got a lot on my plate. waking up feels like a new day.
6. fresh breath!
7. i feel unplugged! meaning i can get up and go take a walk, go to the grocery store, the gym, work without having to pack weed, smoke weed, and/or sober up from weed, or air myself out. no more ball and chain!
8. i can relate to people and am more genuinely empathetic
9. I can form a complete sentence!
10. i don't feel like a delinquent teenager but i DO feel more youthful
11. energetic connection to people and nature and animals.
12. similarly, less isolated from the world.
13. my apartment stays cleaner
14. i eat healthier
15. unafraid of being alone with myself
16. better coordination and physical strength
17. more energy and focus to handle all my other %$#
18. learning vulnerability

19. no longer having to endure the rollercoaster [what motivates me to finally quit 100% (not just fast or take weed vacations or plan to return after i've gotten back to a better place) is the awful realization that every return is a RETURN not a starting over. my delusional thinking--likely catalyzed by the trickster thrill of that first toke--used to be that when i return to weed, i'll be a clean slate and capable of regulating. nope, that's not the case for my particular brain chemistry! what happens instead is something more like groundhogs day: in no time i'm right back to level 10. almost as if my brain has some permanent indent. and it's so very painful, disappointing and damaging to everything i;m trying to be. so the benefit of QUITTING, not just regulating, means being free of that delusional rollercoaster.

You're all stars!!

Every time I read all of your posts it gives me strength and warms my soul.

Nearly 3 years totally weed free, thank you all so very much.

Peace and love.

Rik