Help, I can't quit drinking

[Ananta]

5 minutes ago, outlandish said:

Good job, that's a huge accomplishment. Weed is a much less harmful substance to be dependant on.

Really? ... I had a family member have to go to in-patient rehab for 3 months because of a weed addiction.

 

[Arcangelo]

18 minutes ago, Anna1 said:

Sounds like you just swapped one addiction for another. 

Yes, absolutely. I hate when people say weed is not addictive

3 minutes ago, Anna1 said:

Really? ... I had a family member have to go to in-patient rehab for 3 months because of a weed addiction.

He was prolly confronted with the choice: Rehab or jail time. But IDK

 

 

Arc

[Ananta]

3 minutes ago, Arcangelo said:

Yes, absolutely. I hate when people say weed is not addictive

He was prolly confronted with the choice: Rehab or jail time. But IDK

 

 

Arc

"He" was actually a she and she was my step mother who raised me. She worked in open heart surgery and got tired of putting people's lives at risk being high on weed in the operating room.

[outlandish]

@Anna1 yeah of course it's less harmful. Just looking at the toxicity axis, have you ever heard of someone dying from smoking too much weed?

I'm not a weed smoker myself, so I'm not trying to defend the drug from a self-defence perspective. I do drink occasionally. I've just read a ton over the years about the harms and risks, and it's pretty hard not to come to the conclusion that weed is a much safer substance than alcohol is.

I'm not saying there are no risks, just that they are far, far higher with alcohol.

[outlandish]

On 9/9/2018 at 8:08 AM, perlita said:

I had a series of awakenings in the last few months yet can't quit drinking specially after I realized that a couple of glasses doesn't necessarily render me unconscious. So I guess awareness alone is not always curative. It seems to be genetic (lots of alcoholics in the family) and karmic  - at least that's the answer I got during self-inquiring.  Does anyone have any tips or point me in a right direction? Thank you!

How much do you drink?

[Raptorsin7]

@Arcangelo That's awesome man congratulations on that. Are you diving into the enlightenment work Leo's been talking about?

[Eugenio]

On 9/9/2018 at 11:08 AM, perlita said:

I had a series of awakenings in the last few months yet can't quit drinking specially after I realized that a couple of glasses doesn't necessarily render me unconscious. So I guess awareness alone is not always curative. It seems to be genetic (lots of alcoholics in the family) and karmic  - at least that's the answer I got during self-inquiring.  Does anyone have any tips or point me in a right direction? Thank you!

Just the thoughts of taking another drink proves to me that I'm not awake. How do I explain it? Ego, mass chemicals and trillions of cells knowing... my best thinking is the issue. I have nothing to offer except for this. You already know. Now walk the talk...

[MattP]

I recently quit drinking, and the worst part of it all for me was waking up to the reality i had created for myself. Alcohol is used as a mask, so we don't have to think, or care about our problems. So i was drinking to ignore certain things, and it felt good. 

So if you are serious about quitting, you have to be willing to accept anything you may be masking with alcohol. This can be very painful. Not sure if that is the case with you, but just saying.

I want to drink every day because i am not happy. But i am toughing it out, no matter how painful it is. Hoping payoff will come soon. But man i want a drink!

Being sober will allow you to start making corrections with your behavior towards others. You may start to notice your relationships improving. I have noticed, and it feels good.

So that's the other thing. If you don't care about killing yourself with alcohol, think about others in your life who would benefit from you quitting. Thinking about that is what ultimately allowed me to quit. 

Quitting drinking will be painful, no doubt. Before you do it, be willing, and ready for a bombardment of reality. Just take it! And start making positive changes.

[28 cm unbuffed]

i read Alan Carrs' book, but this method doesn't work for me tbh, cutting off smoking one day and never coming back sounds great on paper, but didn't work for me, reducing smoking worked so much better, i'm not smoking that much now, but still - wanna stop completely

i tried shisha, but that's too much effort, where cigarettes are instant, same with smoking green tea from a pipe

i'm thinking about smoking some healthy e-cigarette right now, but i'm aware that smoking anything is never healthy and not natural

so - my question is - what do you suggest i should replace cigarettes with? need some new, healthy "addiction", the closer to smoking the better (i mean, something similar to trick my brain with)

because i really fucking enjoy smoking as an activity

Edited December 7, 2019 by 28 cm unbuffed

[silene]

3 hours ago, 28 cm unbuffed said:

so - my question is - what do you suggest i should replace cigarettes with? need some new, healthy "addiction", the closer to smoking the better (i mean, something similar to trick my brain with)

because i really ****** enjoy smoking as an activity

How does vaping compare to smoking? Never tried it myself (I gave up smoking well before vaping was invented) but it is advertised as a healthier alternative. 

Edited December 7, 2019 by silene
Expletive deleted.

[28 cm unbuffed]

@silene

yeah, it's exactly the thing that's on my mind right now, i want to try that

not sure what "the healthiest" option of vaping is tho

[silene]

Perhaps the healthier ones don't have nicotine? But worth researching by the sound of it. 

[Arcangelo]

@Raptorsin7

On 12/5/2019 at 8:26 PM, Raptorsin7 said:

That's awesome man congratulations on that. Are you diving into the enlightenment work Leo's been talking about?

Thanks Rap!

No i am not diving into the enlightenment work Leo's been talking about. I don't even have a meditation habit. But i did have a S.A.E. I was enlightened/awake (whatever you wanna call it) for about a week, but it fade off.

I don't think you guys or anyone wants to be enlightened. Be careful with your wishes, they might come true. The implications of realizing that you are god fragmented or whatever are very scary.

I had a panic attack during meditation, i lost my mind momentarily. I was bummed out about all the suffering that awaits, and I know that all the happiness that awaits is gonna make it all worth it. Balance it. But i didn't want any of that, i felt i was loosing my mind. I wanted to go back to just being Arc and identify myself with the body. But now I know too much. 

I live my life pretending that i am just a human being . We all do. And we all know we are much more.

I was going deep realizing that i must live/experience every single perspective forever.

That's my game, i am not alive i just exist, i am an interdimensional immortal spiritual being. I was never born, i will never die.

My physical body is just a vehicle for this planet, I exist simultaneously in other planes of existence.

 

Arc

[Amandine]

@perlita  Hi, the "Self-Actualization Journals" section is a good place to set goals, start tracking and journaling your accountability and progress.  

Good luck on your journey

Edited December 13, 2019 by Amandine

[Average Investor]

@silene @28 cm unbuffed Royal College of Physicians found vaping not likely to exceed 5% of the harm of cigarettes. It is a good tool to get completely off of it for good. Actually has the highest success rate to stop smoking. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Average Investor

[Ananta]

25 minutes ago, Average Investor said:

@silene @28 cm unbuffed Royal College of Physicians found vaping not likely to exceed 5% of the harm of cigarettes. It is a good tool to get completely off of it for good. Actually has the highest success rate to stop smoking. 

I mostly stopped smoking using vaping instead (I still very occasionally smoked), but I vaped all the time I could, and had batteries charging everywhere. I vaped for 5 years.

Anyways, I finally got sick and tired of being addicted to nicotine and quit cold turkey. That was 3 years ago. I haven't smoked or vaped since, but have wanted to occasionally....but didn't. 

 

[Average Investor]

@Anna1 Yeah, I vaped for about 5 years as well. I weaned down on nicotine content and just cut it off completely, but I would usually do that anyway. I would go down to 1mg, then back to 6mg to get effects again. But going down to 1mg for a week or so, then just cut it out. The thing is with going down to 1mg is you tend to vape more, so hard to say how much less you really get. 

I had been running and stuff and just came to the realization it was time to stop. It is an annoying habit. 

[Ananta]

15 minutes ago, Average Investor said:

The thing is with going down to 1mg is you tend to vape more

Hehe, absolutely,  been there done that! Meaning, I would lower the amount of nicotine (dont even remember to what) and would be sucking hard like a maniac?. Tried no nicotine and had zero interest. It was awful, so not an option. The nicotine changes the taste or something.

15 minutes ago, Average Investor said:

It is an annoying habit. 

Completely, but I guess it did get me off cigarettes, so in some strange sense I'm grateful. I never experienced any lung issues like they are saying in the news. Actually my lungs improved 100%, but I bought pure stuff made in the US.

[Average Investor]

@Anna1 Yeah, most of the news around it is just propaganda. I could jog 5 miles straight when I was vaping still. The stuff saying people dying was also just black market THC vapor products. Not E liquid products. To my knowledge there has never been a single death relating to vapor products. Some injuries from devices from poorly educated users though. 

If most users are able to quit it will lose billions of dollars for the medical industry and tobacco companies. There is so many hands in the pockets of things like other pharmaceutical drugs that supposedly work to make people quit, but they almost never work. It hurts a whole lot of companies not just tobacco companies.  

If you look into it the state of California actually owes tobacco companies millions of dollars. Tobacco companies paid out settlements before they even happened. So if you notice California is one the first places that places to start banning flavors. You also see a lot of misinformation about the vaping products themselves coming from there. I believes they owe them something like hundreds of millions and they already spent that funding that was suppose to go to tobacco prevention related stuff. Not sure a quick internet search would show you what I am talking about though. California is not the only state like that, but they owe the most. 

Now I have to say that a good portion of the vapor industry is a big pile of bs. Shops hosting competitions for clouds and tricks. Companies literally ripping off candy packaging labeling and using it on their products is completely irresponsible. But it still comes to the fact it is getting people to quit cigarettes. My town had like 5+ vape shops not including mini marts that had dedicated sections for it, head hops, etc. It was getting pretty out of hand in my opinion. Now with flavors banned it is pretty much gone, but I wonder if users will go back to cigarettes or not. 

Edited December 12, 2019 by Average Investor

[IChoseTheRedPill]

@perlita  I didn't read any of the subsequent posts, so please forgive me if someone has mentioned this before... My cousin was 48 when he eventually died from alcoholism... The end was pretty horrible to be honest with You... I took other organs to begin shutting down that finally took his life... He was loved by many who tried to help him... Over 80,000 people die each year from alcohol in one way or the other...

The independent psilocybin studies results are pretty dynamic... Other plant medicines could help you to based on anecdotal response from retreats... If You don't have any experience with these compounds, I don't recommend You try any of them by Yourself, as the therapy does require consuming large enough doses in order to achieve a therapeutic result... If You don't know others there's a website called called MeetUp where You may be able to locate others in plant medicine groups near Your home... I found one about 40 miles from me and eventually learned first hand about DMT but primarily Ayahausca... If You are lucky enough, the group will open up fully to You... It may take some time... It's the nature of a secret society... Meet Up

These various compounds are finally being allowed to heal others... They may be able to heal You... If not, there's always A.A.