Time to admit it, Im an addict

[BCCA]

I guess some things in life are hard to see, even when theyre right in front of your face. I always found ways to rationalize what I did, I go to work, I pay my bills on time for the most part, and I dont rob/cheat/steal to support my habbit, but I still have a problem, and its determental to my life.

 

You see, for about the last 10 years, almost every single day, I smoke pot. I know, everyone thinks its a lightweight addiction and should be easy to shake, and the truth is, if Im out of town and dont have any, I survive. I can go a week/month without it if I dont have any choice. But the whole time, Im doing everything I can to get some, and when I do...I feel so much better.

 

I just came to the realization that I do nothing with my life, am somewhat antisocial, make poor financial decisions, and despite keeping on top of my bills, I have no savings whatsoever. I have a job, but Im not thrilled with it, and my attempts at going back to school have been repeatedly thwarted by lapses of motivation, due to getting high.

 

I guess I dont even know where to start, or what steps I can take to stop. I know, just stop all together is the easy answer, but I live alone and have easy enough access to make that hard. Suggestions?

[xpaperxcutx]

You can get outpatient therapy if your addiction doesn't warrant an inpatient one. Any addiction is hard, and like alcoholism they require a lot of steps and trials before you finally reach that point where you can absolutely say you're sober and been going for so- and - so years.

 

Have you talked with anybody close about your addiction? Sometimes having friends and family know makes them aware of the signs of a relapse.

 

And an addiction can be hard-hitting on the wallet. Try putting all your income into your savings account and only get the necessary amount for that certain week.

[BCCA]

Have you talked with anybody close about your addiction? Sometimes having friends and family know makes them aware of the signs of a relapse.

 

Well, my friends arent really in a position to judge, some smoke, and the rest think its perfectly fine. People look at my life, and think its just fine, so what if I smoke? But there is so much more to it than that.

 

I couldnt imagine talking to anyone in my family about it. Either we just arent close enough, or they just wouldnt understand.

[xpaperxcutx]

Well, my friends arent really in a position to judge, some smoke, and the rest think its perfectly fine. People look at my life, and think its just fine, so what if I smoke? But there is so much more to it than that.

 

I couldnt imagine talking to anyone in my family about it. Either we just arent close enough, or they just wouldnt understand.

 

 

Then you need to research your area for a group therapy clinic for addictions because then you can build a social network with people who have the same goals as you. But if you can afford a therapist I'm sure you can also try having them on speed dial. When I used to cut ( because of depression) my ex therapist gave me her # to call her.

 

It's all about getting as much support as you can. If your friends and family can't help you then you can talk with acquaintances and strangers. There are more options than you think and its important to seek them out if you're serious in getting better.

[Tayla]

Your title speaks volumes. recite it everyday. It will bring things into reality.

[alphamale]

I guess I dont even know where to start, or what steps I can take to stop. I know, just stop all together is the easy answer, but I live alone and have easy enough access to make that hard. Suggestions?

i smoked pot for a number of years when i was in my late teens early 20s and i found it really took away my motivation to do much. you can PM me and i will assist.

[Dooda]

BCCA, I used to smoke pot too, and it was getting to the point where I was skipping most of my classes to smoke. I was the kid who was reluctant to start smoking it, but then I turned into the kid who couldn't get enough of it. I think I stopped when I realised I had problems in my life that I needed to deal with, and that smoking would only make it worse. It was getting to the point where I would feel paranoid when I was high, and I just wasn't feeling the buzz I used to when I had first started.

I stopped all of a sudden. It was hard seeing my friends smoking and knowing I couldn't do it, it wasn't easy. But what made me not smoke was knowing that if I did smoke, if I took that one puff, it would only make my life worse.

Perhaps it's not the same for you. Perhaps your life passes you by and you're not that troubled by it.

But, obviously you are. It's good you came out to admit it, but I think the first step is in stopping. It's really hard. But I think you'll realise, once you do, that even if you're life isn't as great as it should or could be, it's alot better without that substance making it even that much worse. I think stopping all together is the best choice, because it doesn't give you the chance to put off your goal and simply say, I'll smoke less next week, or I'll stop in a month.

Stop. Give yourself a reason to stop, and you'll stop.

[mysterymachine]

it has been proven the marijuana is psychologically addicting, not physically. one can be psychologically addicted to anything. hell, i love coffee. if i don't have coffee, i have a hissy fit.

i have smoked weed most every day since i was 19 and i am 36 now. i will admit, for most people, it can have a somewhat antimotivational effect on them. but for me, it worked the opposite. i didn't get my GED and driver's license UNTIL i was smoking weed all the time. for some reason, it keeps me from being TOO anal. my mind works extremely fast, demands constant info and stimulation, and weed helps me lose that superintense focus. if i didn't i would have to work equations all the time or something. the brain needs down time, and for me, it works. i don't think that weed in and of itself is the problem so much as the fact that people eat alot of junk food sometimes when we get the munchies. MSG is more if a problem than THC.

but then again, it seems most tweakers have ADD, so maybe i have a hyperactive brain (no problem focusing and completing tasks or anything like that tho, so i don't really fit any pattern) and am self medicating. maybe its the same for you. i don't know, but i just felt like i had to defend weed a little bit. it beats antidepressants any day, and try and go tell a heroin addict about your problem with weed. he'll show you a real problem. i have quit for up to six months at a time and had no issues. but when i smoked after all that time it literally felt like my brain unfolded. i could almost hear my brain saying "thank you, thank you".

but i digress.....

anyway, i wouldn't beat myself up for it. just stop smoking it. don't put in any money to a rehab for something like weed. that just doesn't make any sense. you aren't going to die if you quit. you aren't even going to be close to uncomfortable. just do it!

[Sam Spade]

You're pretty close, but not out of the woods yet. I haven't had problems with pot or any other drugs, but alcohol, so here's what I learned:

 

THE most iportant part (perhaps really the only part) of overcoming an addiction is simply realising that you do have a problem. Sounds simple, but the catch is to REALLY understand it, not just rationally, but on an emptional level as well, if that makes sense. For example, before I quit drinking, I spent years with the vague (and then not so vague) feeling that I have problem with alcohol. But, I didn't do much about it until one day i realised very clearly that I simply can't have another drink ever again. After that, it has been VERY easy to stay off it (4+ years).

(I hate the AA crap etc., but they've got one thing right, which is that you can't shake it before you really admit it). For people with alcohol problems, this usually involves going through) a lenghty period of rationalizations and cheap tricks such as "rules" and relapses (e.g. "I can moderate", "I will only have X drinks", "I will only have beer", etc.). Any "quitting" in the midst of that is usually temporary and doesn't "take" unless the above mentioned true, rational and emotional coming to terms takse place...

[Sam Spade]

it has been proven the marijuana is psychologically addicting, not physically. one can be psychologically addicted to anything. hell, i love coffee. if i don't have coffee, i have a hissy fit.

 

 

I'm not familiar with the addiction status of pot. In general however, an addiction is understood to have taken place when a person has made an explicit connection between withdrawal symptoms and consuming/doing whatever they're addicted to to relieve them, and then accepts that the way to stave them off is to keep taking the substance. Clearly, an addiction that has no physiological basis will be less severe, but that doesn't make it any less of an addiction. Moreover, sometimes it's pretty hard to separate physiological from psychological issues. I had a brief stint with coke (just a few weeks), and the psychological experience of anxiety when you come down is generally phisiological, but it's not like your limbs are shaking etc..

 

(also, coffee is physiologically addicting - look it up; I'm addicted to coffee; beyond the comfort it provides, in the context of the above I am also aware that I will collapse and get SEVERE headackes if I stop drinking it... (i was off coffee for 6 months ))

[Metal_Muffin]

Well i have to say i think just saying you do is a MASSIVE step...so dont beat yourself about not quite knowing how to stop.

Do you mind if i ask why you smoked it in the first place?! My ex was really insecure and and had quite bad anxiety so he smoked it everyday...like you but hence the ex it only ended up making it a lot worse so i wish he had your nerve to realise its an issue. Seriously be proud hun.

[BCCA]

Well i have to say i think just saying you do is a MASSIVE step...so dont beat yourself about not quite knowing how to stop.

Do you mind if i ask why you smoked it in the first place?! My ex was really insecure and and had quite bad anxiety so he smoked it everyday...like you but hence the ex it only ended up making it a lot worse so i wish he had your nerve to realise its an issue. Seriously be proud hun.

 

 

I started smoking it in high school. At the time, it was cool, and everyone that was popular was getting high. Soon, it was so easy to get that I was smoking everyday.

[Metal_Muffin]

Make sense...its easy to become addicted to something that you can get when you want just makes it harder to quit. How are you doing with the smoking less?

[BCCA]

Make sense...its easy to become addicted to something that you can get when you want just makes it harder to quit. How are you doing with the smoking less?

 

I've been more tired, strangely, and I can feel myself being irritable at times, but other than that not bad.

[Phateless]

I hate to say it but this is a matter of personal choice and willpower. You have to make the decision to quit.

 

The other part of this is PATTERNS. You can't just immediately stop smoking pot because you will feel a void. Make a list of alternate activities. Instead of smoking pot you can:

 

1 - go to the gym

2 - call a friend

3 - clean your house

4 - go to the store and make a more involved dinner

5 - go running/hiking

6 - ride your bicycle/skateboard/rollerblades

 

In addition to that you could roll back. Starting today, smoke pot ONLY on Tues/Thurs/Sat, and that's it. Other days, find something else to do.

 

You see where I'm going with this? You have a pattern of coming home and smoking pot. Don't eliminate the pattern - change it.

[margalicious]

Quit addiction. I believe you can do it. Time to focus on some things. Exercise, it will help you a lot. Meditate, listen to your inner self. Pray, listen to God. HE will surely help you.

[Tayla]

As odd and strange as this may sound. Mind your P's and Q's.

 

People, Places and Perception.

 

Q= Quit.

 

The People who aided (enabled) the habit. Cant change them but avoid them til you can get a better grasp of your true condition. Avoid "Places"- That maybe the bar, your living room, where ever you seemed most comfortable in having that drug of choice. And Perception . How often an addict will have a warped perception and justification.

 

To quit doesn't mean to take a few days off. It means to entirely forego that drug of choice on a daily basis, til the end of time or the end of your existance. Which ever comes first.

 

Caffeine, nicotine , alcohol, cocaine are drugs most often associated with addictions and long term fore going. Admitting it doesn't change the condition, Stopping the habit does.

 

AA or NA has a higher chance then going it alone. I don't slap the hand that was there to aid, when the bottom fell out.

[Malenfant]

you could be me talking about 3 years ago.

 

Up until the day I quit, I had smoked weed for 14 years, practically every day, the only days I didnt was because I couldnt get any.

 

because I had smoked since I was about 13, It was just something that I always did, like having a cup of tea. As soon as I got in from work, rolled one up and it helped me to chill. That was what I did. it defined me. I was a pot head.

 

The thing was, the constant 'having' to get it really started to grind on me. I was only free from the worry of needing to score if I had at least a quarter of an ounce. I would say I used to smoke about that a week, to myself.

 

Now I didnt steal or anything to pay for it, but like you, I pretty much spent most of my free cash on it.

 

Most of my friends did it, and I couldnt ever see me giving up.

Thing was, although I had a high tolerance, and didnt feel like I was fuzzy, that was only because I was so used to feeling that way.

 

One day, I had a bit left, and all of a sudden the idea of spending more money on it erally p*ssed me off. I just wanted not to have to get it all the time.

 

I just didnt buy anymore after that day. Just like that.

that was just over 2 years ago.

 

Thing was, it used to be fun when i was a teenager, then it just became the norm.

 

All in all, I feel like a million percent better than I used to. Much more content, much less anxious generally.

 

Maybe you'll have a day like I did when you just decide enough is enough.

 

Nothing stopping you from having a treat now and then, I still do but very rarely, and its much more enjoyable and last a lot longer as i'm now a complete lightweight.

 

Good luck with whatever you end up doing. all I can say is that you really will feel loads better if you give up, and proud of yourself also.