beating addiction

hey everyone.

over the last few months, since a trip to a stoners sanctuary, i have not gone a few days without smoking marijuana. last night i finished off the last of it. I am starting this thread with the hopes of using it as a way to both deal with the addiction and get stories from other people, about times when you have recongnised an activity in their lives as an addiction and what you have done about it, if anything. whether the addiction is internet, a computer game, smoking, a partner, work. anything. Also how the addiction affects life.

So, i have got to the point where almost every activity in my life would be made better simply by getting stoned, this has lead to a situation where everytime i would do someting i enjoy sober i would have an urge to smoke.

Im also super forgetful, which causes me to ask the same questions again and again. i want to stop so i have a clear head.

anyways.
day 1.
last smoke last night. feeling good. mind still going slow from it

Good for you Erik. Just making that decision is hard enough in itself, be strong and I'm sure you can do it. I hope you have some help from family and friends because its not easy to do it alone. You could do with something else to focus on that isn't going to lead to addiction like a hobby or an activity that will keep your mind occupied when the craving to smoke comes over you.

Well done, I'll be thinking of you and I'll keep you in my prayers.
Love and light
Sorceress

hey thanks Sorceress, means alot.

so i have decided that i will simply not buy any, if i dont have any i cant smoke any? works for me. i read you plan Decius. i think the nature thing is a good idea. and Sorceress, i spend a fair bit of time on a hobby of mine. its just the time when im not doing anything when it sux.

so day 2, i feel like shit, not really sure if its because i went out and drank quite a bit and had to get up early for work, or the whole not smoking anything. only time will tell!

Hey Erik It's nice to hear you are feeling good about life at the moment. I don't care what Decius says, its always nice to have a bit of genuine encouragement and a well intentioned word or two from a friend. OK I don't know you from Adam, but you reached out to complete strangers through a computer screen, I just hope someone's there to hold my virtual hand when I'm struggling on life's road. Keep it up Erik, you don't need that shit!

wow, your view has changed Decius. But hey whatever works.
Erik, how long have you been smoking? i know for a fact that it is quite easy for some to quite smoking. i...i have smoke for quite a while but i never admitted it to anybody because i am paranoid that somebody will tell my parents and then they will think that i am some weak person. but i enjoyed smoking because it was a stress reliever. that and if i ever told my dad that the reason i started smoking was because of my mom i have no idea what my dad would do. that i never want to go to those pompouse shrinks. and...
oh yeah um i do have friends who have done meth LSD and other things and they are perfectly fine because they have decided that they had only wanted to try it once. and since then they havent done anything more than smoke and its been years. good luck to you!

thanks guys

zyphon i first smoked about 6 years ago, just for a bit of fun with friends, once every few months or so. since finishing school and working i took the view that since i didnt need to remember anything for tests etc. i could smoke consequence free. not so it turned out ive been forgetting everything! things i would do with friends, where i put my keys lol.

and Sorceress u said something about a hobbie, i started reading a psyc book, its good. AND i remembered what i read in the morning. Oedipus

once i say this sorceress will probably want to smack me but i will anyways. when smoking i was relaxed and yes this might seem improbable to other people but i have found that i can remeber things better because i asscociate those things i want to remember with fealing relaxed. but i havent really cared what happens or what the affects of it are because trying to wrap my brain around actually living to be 30 doesnt work. i am a person who thinks of the worst things possible and when that worst possible situation doesnt happen im extremely happy and nobody around here would try to understand and listen they would only try to change who i am. So i think no matter what be who you want to be no matter what that is. and if smoking and other things affect your memory and who you are i would say dont take them its erasing who you are. me well i cant even run for 2 minutes and im really fricken skinny and that was before i smoked. and since i... no never mind. just be your self.

these last few days have been pretty shit. ive come down with the flu, not sure if its related to not smoking. i have no cravings to smoke but i just feel shit. i think i just have a cold. bugger ay.

good luck and pull through.

Well done for giving up the cannabis, just want to say take it one day at a time.And also you havnt done anything untill you have done it staraight.So all the thing you do while stoned or drunk are not really your true experience.Thats coming from some one who is 5yrs clean from all mind altering subtances.Keep up the good work.

beating addition is tough work, but is not impossible. I respect you to express your problem and make a commitment, it is not something that could be done by anyone without courage.
acknowledge a problem is the first step to solve the problem. you have already taken the first step, now go all the way!

I actually get a very smart rush when I smoke weed. Everything I look at or do comes to me a lot clearer.

But I know that particular state of being should not be experienced too much. Because you find that when you think you have more fun while high all the time, it tricks your mind into making you believe that you would rather be in that state - than sober... that you can't obtain that kind of feeling if you weren't high, I think that's what causes the addiction. although it seems harmless to you, since you just want to have that same good feeling while you're active or what not, it's not your natural state of being.

identifying that such a euphoric feeling can be that overwhelming and only experiencing it every once in a while and appreciating that feeling only while it lasts is a way to do with that addiction. becoming too greedy and wanting that feeling all the time is/can be unhealthy.

If all else fails, just remember that you're saving a shitload of money and reducing your risk of getting busted, losing your job, getting cancer, ect, by quitting. After all, it's more than just a moral victory if you're healthier and wealthier in the end.