I don’t want to quit entirely, I want to significantly reduce my intake and fix my relationship with the plant. I want to give myself a real chance at enjoying my beautiful life, because I know I deserve better. But the first step to reducing my intake is to quit for a period of time all together - this is where I need help.
I smoke everyday, multiple times per day, when I have work I’ll smoke after work, but on my days off it’s an all day thing. I can feel myself getting frustrated with life because I’m not giving it a proper chance, I don’t crave a smoke but if I’m out I’d rather come home, smoke and lounge around. The issue is my brain sees weed as a saviour from boredom, spiralling thoughts and loneliness when night comes.
What should I do to fill the space that weed fulfils? How can I make my brain see that weed and my attachment to it, is the enemy, it makes me want to do nothing and that’s the problem. How do you live through the sense of doom and loneliness when you stop ?
Get some hobbies, try new things, start hiking/exercising, read, watch movies. Its going to be hard, and you will get bored and frustrated. Don’t stuck to doomscrolling, drinking, nicotine, and comfort shows. They give a false sense of instant gratification. You will sleep harder, and less, you will get crazy dreams, you will eat less. Its gonna suck honestly, but as you get the thc out of your system its gonna be better. If you get to this part (I can’t say how long, it depends on you but i would suggest to quit at least for 6 months) then you are gonna have a life that you can enjoy, where every good thing became a routine. Now you can set your boundaries. Make rules about when you can and can’t smoke. Get a ksafe or any time locking safe or if you have a partner that you can trust with this then you can give them your stash to hide. Now you can only access your stash when there is a special occasion, a dedicated relaxing night or the weekend. This is also depends on you, when you would like to smoke. If you keep your boundaries and stick to the ksafe/weed hiding then good luck, maybe you solved your relationship with weed! Also you didn’t give much context so most parts i only guessed so I may be totally wrong in your situation.
I was in your shoes not too long ago. While everyone’s experience is different, I managed to take a long enough T break to redefine my relationship with thc. Like most people will tell you, you need to fill the time doing things that help you forget about thc, what hobbies do you enjoy, do you workout/run/play sports, etc. I have actually found that a lot of the things I liked to do high is just as, if not more, enjoyable sober. You will genuinely start to feel better and start to realize that that are so many perks being sober more than you are high. Just to name a few things-my sleep, my production at work, my eating habits, my consistency in the gym, my want to be more social.
When I was in your shoes I fully believed that I would be miserable if I wasn’t smoking and I had all these thoughts along the line of “if I have a steady job, pay my bills, hang out with friends/family regularly, why should I change my habits? I also remember thinking that I wouldn’t be able to sleep or eat without thc. To be frank, your brain is lying to you.
I did two weeks completely thc free, my goal was to figure out how to moderate my consumption. Everything I learned in those 2 weeks allowed me to turn my daily use into weekends only, and honestly I only really do it on the occasional Friday/Saturday night if I don’t have anything going on. The high feels better and I find it much more rewarding when it’s a more rare experience. I was wake up Monday, sometimes a little more tired than usual but go about my entire work week without even craving it (one asterisk to this is that watching people smoke does increase cravings so be careful about who you spend time with).
To conclude, as someone who was just like you, it is possible to redefine your relationship with thc. It won’t be easy, requires some discipline and you have to want to do it. Again, everyone’s experience is different but I wanted to share mine to you. Best of luck with your journey, take it one day at a time, and don’t be too hard on yourself.
I really love this response and find myself resonating with everything you’ve said, would you be open to a more in depth chat about this?
Definitely open to chatting about this, does Reddit have DM’s? I don’t use this app a ton, only a few subreddits.
Hi, I really liked this comment too! I’m week 3 of no use. I do eventually want to return but only on Friday and saturday evenings is my goal. Did you experience any withdrawal symptoms on the break and then vs. starting back just the moderate use? I had a lot of anxiety & sleep trouble when I stopped my nightly use, so I’m concerned about rebounding that by starting again. I understand everyone’s different or you might not have the answers, but was just looking for similar experiences!
Honestly, my symptoms weren’t too bad but I kept having mood swings and I would get frustrated easily. I told myself when the right time came I would smoke again. For me, it was probably 9/10 pm on Saturday night and I knew I was doing nothing productive the rest of the day. I sat on the couch and played video games and watched tv shows. I pretty much had taught myself that thc is fine if I’m already not being productive but each day is different.
What I’d recommend is don’t tell yourself “oh I’m gonna do break my T break on week 3 or on this day”. If you feel that the timing is right then trust yourself. If you’ve proven that you can live without it consistently, then keep that mindset and just enjoy the high for a few hours. My tolerance has gotten so low that I got really high for the start and I remember thinking how long it had been since I felt really high. I don’t say that to scare you but more to show that it can be more enjoyable if it’s a rarer thing.
Again, trust yourself and what you know about yourself. If you think you’ll fall right back into it the next day, then maybe wait and continue to adjust your mindset as you stay sober. For me I woke up the next day feeling a little groggy and was somewhat lazy but it was Sunday after all. Since that day I’ve smoked about 3/4 times total, roughly once a week and have never had any strong urges or cravings the days after. But like you said everyone’s experience is different and nobody knows you more than you know yourself. I hope this answers your question.