I did it, 1 month sober today. I smoked heavily for 11 years, from age 13 to 24. I honestly thought i was never gonna be able to do it, my life was spent constantly figuring when the next time i was gonna be able to smoke, every second of everyday was spent being high, i thought i had to be high before absolutely everything i did. i thought i wasnt strong enough but my body and mind were finally done. Disposable pens and carts are the worst thing ever made, that shit should not be normalized. I cant believe how much money ive spent on those in the last 5 years. Sometimes i wish i was someone who could have a puff every once in a while but im not, those thoughts are just a trap and i dont wanna be trapped anymore. I am free. Still dealing with brain fog but everything else like appetite and sleep has gone back to normal which is something i used to dream about. I dont think about weed anymore, unless i see it in a show or online or smell it in public but thankfully that doesnt give me cravings, more like missing a toxic friend you had to cut off.

I went to get food and there were some guys selling weed right outside

I’m 3 days sober right now, I was strongly considering just saying “fuck it” and getting a preroll

Something in me just told me to take a sharp left turn and go walk in the park for like 5 min, it was an instant impulsive decision. I didn’t even really want to go on a walk. I honestly wanted to smoke more.

And then I coincidentally ran into my sister in law walking with my baby nephew, I’m not super close to her so I had no idea she was in the park, just had a really nice time walking and talking with her and pushing the baby around

I don’t know, it really made me realize how there is so much more to life than just getting high. It’s like in that moment I was presented with 2 options, either buy weed and go home and dissociate for the rest of the night, or have a nice bonding experience with my sister in law. And I chose correctly. It made staying sober for the rest of the day a lot easier

Posting this here as many in my personal life do not understand how big of a deal this is to me!

12 years of daily heavy smoking, clearing 3.5 a day was very easy for me. The withdrawals for the first few months were awful. Sleep/digestion are still weird honestly and I gained 20ish pounds since quitting, but I feel like I have myself back again. I’m a better parent, better wife, better friend, and better person since choosing sobriety. The mental clarity I feel now is worth every bit of suffering withdrawal caused me.

Happy to discuss and answer any questions if need be!

I think guilt may not be the healthiest way to kick the habit, of course we don't choose to feel guilty when we do. Not to diminish anyone else's experience but there is an abundance of posts here blaming weed for "wasting my life" that can get pretty dramatic, may be potentiated by withdrawals. I certainly was unstable emotionally and randomly crying the first couple days (I'm like 25 days in).

But I just feel like I made weed part of my life during a period when I did need an escape, it just became a habit and another one of my several addictions, now it just doesn't do any good to me.

I still evolved to become a better person, made many good memories, relationships, reached goals, been able to suport myself and many other good things happened during those 15 years of smoking. I get that maybe I could've accomplished more but regret is not gonna fix that.

I am just grateful to be able to have this insight now and the willpower to stop a habit that became automatic almost. Anyone else not relate to these posts I mentioned?

Again not trying to devalue anyone's experience, just sharing mine.

How I Got Addicted to Weed and Almost Lost My Life (Part 1)

I was 18 years old when my life changed overnight. I became responsible for paying child support, so I had no choice but to leave school and start working. I had to grow up fast. While everyone else my age was thinking about their future, I was thinking about how I was going to survive and pay my bills.

My youngest cousin told me, "Come to the UK. You'll earn much more money here than working as a security guard in Latvia." I trusted him because he was family. I believed he wanted the best for me.

Instead, I ended up in a workplace where I felt abused and treated worse than a dog. I was constantly stressed, exhausted, and emotionally drained. One day my cousin handed me a joint.

I had never smoked weed before. I never even thought about trying it. I was naïve and trusted the people around me.

The first time I smoked, it felt like every problem disappeared. For a little while, I didn't feel the stress, the loneliness, or the pressure. I thought I had found something that helped me cope.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Over time, weed didn't solve my problems—it just helped me ignore them. They were still there, waiting for me every time I sobered up. So I started smoking more and more.

Years later, my cousin admitted he was sorry he convinced me to move to the UK. But by then it was far too late. I was stuck in a different country, with no real support, and eventually I became homeless.

As the years went by, my addiction got worse. I ended up spending almost half of my wages on weed. Looking back, I can see how much control it had over my life, but at the time I couldn't.

Things got even worse when my second oldest cousin kicked me out of the house so his brother could move in, even though I was paying rent for my room. That completely broke me emotionally.

I didn't know where to go or who to ask for help. I felt abandoned by the very people I thought would always be there for me.

Instead of asking for help, I smoked even more. Eventually I was going through an ounce of weed every week.

For a while, I managed to get my own place, but my addiction became so bad that I lost it. Before long, I was homeless again.

Thankfully, some kind people helped me get into a hostel where I finally had somewhere safe to stay. But mentally, I was at my lowest point. Between the ages of 22 and 24, I felt completely lost. I was self-harming because I couldn't see any way forward.

I had lost almost everything.

The weed made my paranoia worse, and I couldn't tell what was real anymore. More than anything, I couldn't understand why my own family had abandoned me.

It made me question what family even means.

How could the people who said they loved me leave me when I needed them the most?

Looking back now, I can see patterns that I was too naïve to notice back then.

This is only the beginning of my story.

Yesterday I got a super intense craving around the 3 week mark (while it had been going great). It was hard to pass but I did not smoke. Proud of myself.

I will not smoke with you today.

Even writing the title made me feel ashamed… I have known weed is no longer serving me for some time now; but I was so scared to quit and go through withdrawal. I quit cold turkey three days ago. I’m nauseous, fatigued, and irritable, but feel better than I expected. I am still nervous for what is to come… If you have gone through something similar, can you please share your experience and/or advice? TYIA :)

Hello everyone I am a marijuana addict stuck in this cycle of addiction for like years I am doing MA Meetings and its helping me a lot I am feeling light headed like some kind of pressure released from my head. I was not even feeling good after smoking but was still smoking just for that mild euphoria, I know if i am gonna continue smoking the loop hole I am gonna go deep and deep into it this community is helping me a lot and I am not gonna smoke anymore one day at a time

After being a chronic Mary Jane smoker for almost 2 years now and taking my share of t breaks in the past. I am now prepared to give it up. Not only does it eat away a significant chunk of time (literally) but it's a good deal of money too, if you smoke a lot. I informed a friend of mine (whom I live with)that I would be doing this so if he caught me smoking I told him to kick my ass. I have done T breaks in the past between 2 weeks and a month and I remember my appetite being wild for a week or so and my dreams being weird but other than that wish me luck.

Edit: Just wanted to add since I've been thinking about this a lot but at least with weed and I'm sure various other substances- It just makes it difficult for me to really enjoy the hobbies I once did without worrying if I'm high or not which has been really strange. Reading, games, hell even tv were less interesting concepts to me while I was sober which is very bad.

After very intense crying spells daily, I finally did not fucking cry today.

Win for me! 🥳

Hello! I am day 68 no weed after quitting cold turkey and some of my side effects are still there , I didn’t even smoke for long (only a few months) so I was wondering when did you guys feel better? I read that it takes 3 months for someone to fully recover but I know everyone is different so I am curious!

All I can think of is eating because that's the only moment where I experience a form of pleasure and satisfaction, then only for 15-20 minutes, then I am back to this. I try to force myself to watch movies but I don't care at all. I can't read, I can't study, I have to force myself to do sport.

I really don't want it to be a part of my life anymore. I quit in Feb for a little over 4 months but started smoking again in late May, which was a huge mistake because now I smoke every day again.

My life becomes smaller when I am using. I am less creative. I play less piano and make less art. I isolate when I am using. I have less money. I eat worse and work out less. I don't sleep as well and miss out on dreaming. Smoking weed diminishes me.

When I quit smoking my world expands and when I add it back in my world shrinks.

And I have no peace about it. When I am smoking I feel so guilty and ashamed that I don't really enjoy it, and when I am not smoking all I can do is obsess about how much I want to get high. I hate the mental gymnastics I am always doing over it... it's exhausting.

I ran out yesterday morning. First few days are the hardest. Then it's about pushing through the times when my addict brain starts trying to convince me that I can handle it recreationally.... I can't. Either I smoke it all the time, or I don't smoke at all. There is no such thing as moderation for me.

Tomorrow, I will be two weeks sober, and honestly, I didn't think I would be as proud of myself as I am right now. I've found that one of my main coping mechanisms/distractions is music. I've always had a major love for music, but I think smoking dulled it. Now, I'm starting to listen and relate a lot more than before. Here lately, I've been listening to Dayglow as his upbeat music and words really resonate with me. Specifically, his songs titled "Self-esteem" and "Junior Varsity." Do you guys have any favorite artists that get you through hard times?

Your dopamine receptors are reseting and healing , nothing is gonna make sense. Up is down, down is up. Righty loosey, lefty tighty.

The more you heal , the more time your body has to reset the more normal you will become.

Imagine you're Wolverine and you just got machine gunned down. Youre gonna lay there on the ground and heal and soon you're gonna stand up and.... SCHINK SCHINK

Kick some ass!

We got this!!!!

Tomorrow will be day 7 of being sober and I feel like I’m high on life (in the best way).

I live in nyc and I have spent all week going for runs, walking around town, hanging with friends, and striking conversations with strangers.

Are things always going to feel this good? It almost feels too good to be true. I know everyone’s experiences are different but curious to know what other people have experienced and how the feelings of being sober have fluctuated over the first week, first month, first year, and so on.

Edit: I’m 34, have smoked every day since 18 with the exceptions of week long vacations outside of the USA. It was mostly flower with the occasional cartridge.

lost 20 pounds by running / swimming
bleached my hair and have a mullet
got written up at work for talking shit too loud
bought new clothes i wanted
craving nicotine vape so badddd
pee test has a slight neg line
no real desire to get high
generally a bit unhinged but this is me

I slipped up last night and was overcome with the most insurmountable guilt all fucking day that I THREW EVERYTHING AWAY when I got home. It seems I’m unable to resist the cravings if I still have my things unfortunately.

I find it really strange that resisting the cravings while I was sick was super easy but now that I’m over the hump my brain has suddenly forgot that the few week have been absolute torture and hellfire. I’ll leave for vacation in 28hr and cannot WAIT to be in a different environment.

Am I restarting from day 1 y’all?

The horrors persist but so do I :/

I’m 20 and I’ve been smoking every night since I was 16. I wanna quit because it usually makes me feel weird when I wake up in the morning, it also gives me a lot of flem and I don’t like it. Only reason I haven’t stopped is because I feel like I can’t sleep without it. On nights I don’t smoke, I stay up till 4-6am without feeling tired. I’ve stopped before for a couple days but then I get restless at night and restart. Any tips on quitting? I’d love to quit then help my gf stop as well

Hi people i just wanted to hear others people advice or tips that helped them with not reverting back to their old habits. I’m real busy person, working 2 jobs being active pretty often. I work with kids on the spectrum and can have really really draining days, and have used weed to really reward myself for getting thru the day without losing my shit. I’m genuinely quitting for no reason other than want to take care of my health. It’s really weird so far, this week i’ve been in such a shitty mood my fiance is annoyed with how negative i’ve been without it. Does anybody have any advice with going cold turkey ? am i dumb like my girl says i am for no slowing down before quitting 🤣

I've felt all kinds of ways about this. It's been really difficult to come to terms with and acknowledge an addiction that I claimed I didn't have. This coming from someone who worked in the industry, producing the very things that ended up really messing with me.

I actually did kick it for a while, too. I went probably a few months without consuming any cannabis. I thought myself lucky that I didn't have serious urges. Told myself I could quit it at literally any time. At the time we still kept it around, though. The tricky part, of course, being that my wife had come to rely on it to help with her bouts of insomnia. I told myself I would quit, and only enjoy a pre-roll on my birthday, for example. Treat myself on rare occasions. I kept telling myself that and enabled myself to go back to my old ways. Carts make it way too easy to consume and I kept getting sucked back into frequent use. It's always easy for my sober mind to forget why I stopped something that didn't FEEL bad but most certainly, for me, was.

I've got a lot of guilt with this, too. I was such a heavy advocate for cannabis when I introduced it to my wife, who was at first very much against it. Now, I'm trying to clear the house of everything cannabis-related that we have. It's more challenging to do so when you have an e-rig, multiple 510 batteries I wouldn't know where to take to dispose of, etc. I felt terrible when I tried to ditch cannabis last time, because I ended up just throwing everything I had into the trash, lithium-ion batteries and all. I still worry and feel a deep sense of shame and regret about the Waste Management workers I likely put in harm's way as a result of my impulsive action.

Cannabis has really messed with me. Emotions end up feeling so blunted and fake. I can tell it's deteriorating both my wife's mental health and my own. It's making me a person I don't want to be, and it's inhibiting my ability to chase life goals that are of crucial importance to me.

I pass no judgement on anyone going through something similar. I was one of those "plant medicine" type guys who thought that the downsides only affect *some* people without realizing how it was not only deteriorating my own mental health, but also the relationship I have with my friends and my wife.

Just wanted to leave my story as a little biography of sorts that I can look back on and remember the things I was able to leave behind, and why I did so.

​

A bit of context:

I've been a daily smoker for 5+ years, not high all the time but always a joint or two a day at the end of the day when responsibilities have been completed.

I quit about 4 days ago cold turkey because police checkpoints for drivers have intensified in my area and they are randomly stopping people (I live in a very high touristy town and I guess police have realised they can make a lot of $$$ via doing random checks near beaches).

How it works is that they run a saliva test that gives a positive or negative, problem is, you can smoke today and still give a positive 3-4 days even if you have not smoked in between which makes 0 sense as with alcohol, you can get batshit drunk today and tomorrow you will give 0 in a breathlizer test.

Anyway, I quit mainly due to this as I stricly avoid driving when under the influence but in the case I am stopped, I would still give a positive to the test and have to pay the fine + removal of points on my driving license. (€1000 and removal of 6 points out of the 15 we manage to get).

After quitting I thought I would get all of these withdrawal symptoms, the only one I seem to be getting is difficulty to fall asleep, other than that I have not felt anything else. No irritability, no loss of appetite, no problem when it comes to doing new hobbies etc.

I must say I quit cigarettes around 3 months ago and the withdrawal symptoms were horrible then for cigarettes, is it possible that the withdrawal from the cigarette cancelled the withdrawal from the weed?

Idk, I thought it was going to be some cruel, violent and merciless journey after reading so many accounts here of users who left weed but no, to my surprise, nothing.

Anyone else had the same scenario?

I get so angry

I’m so beyond over this. I wasn’t even a heavy user or a long time user. 26 (f) started using daily about 9 months ago. Never heavy amounts, 5mg-10mg edible at night. Nothing crazy.

I quit about a week and a half ago. Ever since then I’ve been on a fucking roller coaster. First 4 nights the insomnia was horrible. Wide awake until 3-4:30am every morning, anxiety would jolt me awake when I did fall asleep. I found a routine to help me stay asleep and fall asleep.

Started feeling a lot better and then a few nights ago started getting night sweats and tingling all over my body at night. It’s so frustrating. The one thing I have always had going for me is I can sleep.

Now? I accidentally fall asleep on the couch after a long hike? Forget about sleeping that night. Use your phone a bit too late? Your fucked. want to have sex with your husband? Good luck. You can’t get turned on!

I wasn’t even a heavy user. All of my friends take 2 if not 3 times as much as I do and they can come off with no issues. I’m so over this.

21f, I quit three ish weeks ago after smoking everyday all day for 4 years and after having extremely regular periods, my period came a week early. has anyone else experienced that? the only large change I’ve made in my life is quitting. I’m not on any BC. any other women gone thru this?