Quitting weed

[khalid]

So i've been consuming weed everyday for 2 years now, i'm a 19 years old guy , i'm expecting to pass a huge exam that's going to determine my life. The problem is that weed kill my concentration in class, it also made me more lazy and the most critical part is that i should prepare for my exam , and evrytime i smoke i procrastinate.i need people's experience to help me set my future and quit weed. 

 

[Matiyos]

I can relate to what you described very well. I've started smoking weed when I got to highschool and it made me very lazy and unable to focus. I've been smoking for around 2 years and now I'm very happy that I quit. I'm no expert in fighting bad habbits but what made me quit smoking weed was seeing my best friends throw their lifes to waste. My best friend at the time started skipping classes just so he can go out and smoke some weed, graduatlly he stopped going to school at all. What came next lot of my friends that I've been hanging out with and smoking weed slowly started trying out new kinds of drugs, which resulted with one of them destroying his liver. Right now I barely contact them but on those rare ocasions that I do I see that none of them have finished college and some of them didn't even finished highschool yet. (We are all 22/23 years old).

Maybe you don't have any friends like this, but I hope that it can help you visualize what effects smoking weed might have and eventually help you quit. I'm aware it might have some positive effects, but in my opinion it's not worth it. I had to lose few close friends to quit myself but right now I think it was worth it  

[khalid]

Thnx dude 

 

[Psychonaut]

I can also relate to your problem. It is very easy if you are already procrastinating, to procrastinate even more on weed. It makes you totally forget about the actual task at hand.

I had a similiar issue with my exams this year. I was procrastinating on starting to study and started a bit later than I used to because I was smoking every day. But luckily my weed ran out 2 weeks before the exams and I didnt buy more and the pressure was high enough that I actually studied.

I wouldn't totally blame weed for the problem of not studying. You could try think about the importance of the exam and what all the benefits of the exam are going to be in the future of your life. Try to motivate yourself for the exam and smoke less.

 

[Luka]

I went trough a very similar expirience. I smoked all trough highschool, my grades were always the minimum required to pass. In my country getting into college is mostly determinated by a uniformed exam at the end of highschool. Long story short i am now in a very good mechanical engineering faculty, my grade average isnt perfect but it's by far in the better half of the people in my year, most of whom had straight A's through high school. The fact is it can be done and you can do it. Quitting weed cold turkey for about 6 months was critical for me to succeed. Now I smoke from time to time witouth it affecting my work by a substantial amount. Filing your head with self help stuff regularly is great, it will put you in a good place considering addiction and bad working habbits. Don't watch Leo's videos all day either, studying is your priority. The book think and grow rich was also very helpful, read it and aply as much as you can. The book gets silly from time to time but it really works. Its from a different time. Quitting weed will Bring other good things. Brain chemistry will recover(after time) and you will expirience spontaneous joy. Thats the best part of not smoking for me. I forgot that can even happen for how long i have been smoking. And it does pay off. I am 20, and i wasnt this happy since i was a child.

Best of luck and sorry for poor spelling.

Also message me if you want to ask me something.

[JessW]

I have been smoking weed almost everyday for about two years now as well. I'm 25. I also smoked when I was a senior in high school then a a couple years after. Took a break for a couple years then started again. Well, I also recently decided to slow down on smoking weed these past few weeks. I started a new job and I have a billion things I have to do throughout my work day and my mind just wasn't sharp enough when I was smoking. I was very forgetful and quite honestly lazy as hell. That's always been an issue for me. I can be a very lazy person and I absolutely hate it. Since taking a break from weed I've seen a significant difference in my overall demeanor. I still battle with laziness but my mind is much more sharp. I even smoked one time in the past few weeks and it just wasn't the same as before. I didn't enjoy it as much. I mean don't get me wrong, I fucking love weed and always will. Not just smoking it but the plant in general can offer so much to this world. I know I'll smoke on a occasion every once in a while but overall I'm so glad I made the decision to not make it a priority in my life. I feel like it was hindering me from growing as a person and that's what this forum is all about. Personal development. Being of sound mind is very important. Weed isn't a bad thing but when it starts to affect your life in a negative way it's time to let it go. It'll do nothing for you. That's what happened to me and I'm so glad I was able to let it go and now I feel so much more clear and less cloudy through out my day. I actually get shit done. You got this!!! 

Jess

[Daphne]

Hi Khalid,

I've smoked weed about every day for 3 years of my life and I quit about 2 years ago. Now I don't feel the need to smoke at all anymore. You should break the cycle, but it isn't easy if you still get benefits out of it.

For me it was kinda easy because eventually I started hearing all kinds of voices and things, which actually made me stop. I think you really have to commit to the fact that you want to stop. 

Do some research about it on the long term. Sure weed doesn't look that damaging and all but I think it just makes you kind of a zombie that's asleep.

If you convince yourself that you don't need it anymore you will no longer feel the need to smoke, I guess.

 

Edited February 7, 2016 by Daphne

[7thLetter]

Been smoking weed in highschool starting in grade 10 up until grade 12. In grade 12 I got suspended for 3 days for being in possession or marajuana. Worst day of highschool, they got a cop to come check out the situation, and my parents as well. After that, me and my friends stopped smoking weed as often, and we eventually stopped hanging out with each other. So it was really about the people who I was hanging out with that influenced me to smoke weed.

I never really found weed as something addictive, I was always able to control myself most of the time. But an emotionally difficult moment like mine would help you quit. Find some sort of emotional leverage for your situation

[Guest]

It is all about habit.  The noun 'habit' is related to the old French word 'habit' or, 'abit' which referred to clothing (ecclesiastical) habit in particular. The French verb 'habiter' means 'to live' or 'inhabit' from the Latin 'habitare' "to live, to dwell".  Thus a habit can be understood as a description of how you live or one's life style - like smoking weed or tobacco, or fasting on holy days, etc.

So once one understands that one has a certain life style and that life style is no longer serving one's needs, or it is preventing progress in a different direction, then one would have to change the life style to accommodate the new direction.   This requires considerable attention to what is actually going on in terms of all the activities associated with a particular habit.   This zoning in on the details of the habit can actually reveal what it is the keeps one attached to the habit.  The habit is part of who or what you are currently.  Therefore, to change the habit one must see how what you currently "think you are" must change.  

It is not that there is a "you" who can do the changing, but the revelation of the interconnected factors can lead to a change of life style (habit).  Those factors are: the connection between the activity, the associated behaviours and the assumed personal identity that relates to those elements.  Your personal identity (who you think you are) draws on the various activities and situations in life that you associate yourself with in a tangible way.   This solidifies the idea of an identity which is only circumstantial.  Circumstances can be changed, or alternatively, from a more intelligent level one's understanding of relationship to circumstances (i.e. one's identity) can be changed, or ideally exchanged for the true identity of "being".  But that is perhaps too quick a jump at this point for most people to grasp.

Habits are fixed concepts, rigid conditioning and associated with identity at various levels of thought and emotion.  Thus removing, or changing habits without changing oneself is highly unlikely.   In fact habits can be equated to who you are on the material level of consciousness.  Understanding the makeup of self (self enquiry) is a sure road to alleviating the problems of habit.

joy

Edited February 8, 2016 by walt

[Brazilian]

i realised that i used to smoke because of my anxiety . When i realised that, i started to work on the root of the problem and unexpectedly i stopped smoking

[Seven]

Khalid. I used to smoke weed every evening for almost 2 years with a few short breaks in between, and I also was a proud defender of it, and al of its positive effects. (2-3 well stuffed joints per evening most of the time)

All I can say is:

Maybe it can be ok if you do it very sporadically (2-3x a year for example), 

but If you are serious about anything in life, then you really should let go off the daily pot.

Quitting weed is one of the easiest things I have ever done, just quit.

I discovered that after +- 2 weeks without pot:

my thoughts were different/more positive,

that I was more clear minded,

that I was more aware of everything around me,

more energy,

faster at learning/memorizing,

more motivation,

more sex drive,

more money,

more social contacts with sober people (no more hiding at home in the evening to get a smoke),

more productive,

... and so on

 

If you want to quit, just don't smoke it.

It's not really physically addictive like most drugs, it's all in your mind... see it as a challenge, a goal.

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2016 by Seven

[Leo Gura]

Good God!

Look at all this human potential being pissed away.

Glad I was smart enough never to touch the stuff. I've had hot girls invite me over to their place for weed. And in my mind I'm thinking, "No fucking way. You can smoke that shit all you want but I'm not having anything to do with it."

Zero interest in artificial intoxicants.

[WaveInTheOcean]

3 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Good God!

Look at all this human potential being pissed away.

Glad I was smart enough never to touch the stuff. I've had hot girls invite me over to their place for weed. And in my mind I'm thinking, "No fucking way. You can smoke that shit all you want but I'm not having anything to do with it."

Zero interest in artificial intoxicants.

"artificial intoxicants." 

Well, you can call everything artifical intoxicants if you want. Coffee, food, water. 

I'm not saying weed is good nor bad, but I really don't get how you can just label it "aritifical shit" when you have never personally tried it? 
Weed is pretty harmless, yes it can be misused as seen in this thread, but that doesn't mean it's a useless "substance".

If you smoke weed a few times per month to relax/enjoy music/have a good time with friends etc it is basically harmless. It even has potential as cancer and pain treatment.

But if you're a busy man 24/7 then yes, weed is not good, as it temporarily hurts your short-memory a bit. 
But Leo, seriously, if you ever have some spare time where you have nothing to do, other than relaxing and meditating, you should really try weed - calling it a aritifical intoxicant is being prejudiced IMO.
 

[Dangirdas]

I don't understand why people have the urge to quit 100% with something feeble like weed. There is nothing wrong with the weed, the problem is why and when you smoke it. You just simply have to smoke less and less, to the point where you no longer need it. And this is where habits come in, if you really WANT something, you will get it done no matter what. So if you are a person who under performs because of weed, and you really want to achieve something where you have to perform, you will just have to figure out which of these are more important for you. Do you want to be one of those unproductive smokers? Or do you want to get something done with your life? You don't have to quit 100%, you just have to moderate yourself to the point where you can get/do both things. People are different, some people can be productive while smoking weed, but if you are one of those that become sluggish and unproductive, then you simply can't smoke it a lot or at all.

[WaveInTheOcean]

29 minutes ago, Dangirdas said:

I don't understand why people have the urge to quit 100% with something feeble like weed. There is nothing wrong with the weed, the problem is why and when you smoke it. You just simply have to smoke less and less, to the point where you no longer need it. And this is where habits come in, if you really WANT something, you will get it done no matter what. So if you are a person who under performs because of weed, and you really want to achieve something where you have to perform, you will just have to figure out which of these are more important for you. Do you want to be one of those unproductive smokers? Or do you want to get something done with your life? You don't have to quit 100%, you just have to moderate yourself to the point where you can get/do both things. People are different, some people can be productive while smoking weed, but if you are one of those that become sluggish and unproductive, then you simply can't smoke it a lot or at all.

Truth spoken here.

[Progress]

I don't think the problem is weed, I think the problem is your self control. Weed even has quite a list of benefits. You shouldn't shun it but limit it.

14 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Good God!

Look at all this human potential being pissed away.

Glad I was smart enough never to touch the stuff. I've had hot girls invite me over to their place for weed. And in my mind I'm thinking, "No fucking way. You can smoke that shit all you want but I'm not having anything to do with it."

Zero interest in artificial intoxicants.

I feel like you're a bit biased with this statement due to your tone and how you word it. Weed is much like sex, many benefits if used properly. It can be abused but that doesn't mean we should have an attitude of shunning it. Weed is bad but its ok to have sex right? That attitude sounds like it is based on a history of fearing of substances. Also weed isn't very artificial at all. It is a dried plant. I would say that soda is worse for the human body then weed. 

[Guest]

 

Well for me it was like this. I was smoking weed daily when I was 19. Me and bunch of my friends were super hooked on it. And I aswell felt that it was taking living out of life for me. So what did I do? I talked to my friends about it and we agreed that yeah it was taking a lot of our time and motivation to do anything else, so we decided to quit. Tho I didn't go so well. My friends smoked weed the next day because of some guys birthday party. I got super mad at them and went all lower self stuff and broke contact with them. But for me it was not the end of weed. It was a trend back then as it is now and it was hard to find people that didn't smoke weed, so I drowned myself in job and occasionally smoked it with some random people I knew from my past. But still I felt that I had to quit it for good and just felt the benefits from it. So eventually I stopped. Don't remember all the details how, but I can feel in my mind how I made all these points to quit. From my own experience, get in touch with the issue, feel it and be persistent. It's your reptile that wants to smoke, but remember why you do it and let that higher feeling take you over.  There is a great journey for you in this life. And it can be done. Find someone to talk about it, as Leo has said it before, therapy can help alot. And it's fun

 

Hope you find this useful.

[Valium]

With weed it is like with other substances - it is not good for everyone. some people can benefit from it, especially when you are really sick, but when you are young and still going to school/college I would recommend to abstain from smoking weed (and drinking alcohol, too!). personally I smoked weed for at least 1 year every day, when being high I lost motivation and had problems focussing and memorizing.

[Simon Zackrisson]

Hey man.

I've had my periods of just being a lazy stoner, for days in a row.

NOT FUCKING SAYING THAT WEED IS BOUND TO MAKE YOU LAZY, THE TYPE OF WEED: SATIVA, IS A FUCKING VITAMIN FOR THE MIND. Ok maybe a little exaggerated, but still.

Sick of this shit that people is propagating.

 

A consideration I think you should perhaps do is to change the mental outlook on weed.

To see it as a ritual that is associated with adoration, and not lower it's meaning to something that is a everyday thing.

 

But I don't really know.

Remember that it's different for everyone.

[Elena]

Hi! Its great that you are thinking of stopping it - my advice is start slow. If youve been smoking every day your body is really used to it and if you quit cold turkey it would be harder, (I think) Also, weed is linked to gingivitis so my sdvice is to get a dental appointment (studying to be a dentist cant help myself lol). There is a great reddit community dedicated to stopping weed  https://www.reddit.com/r/leaves/top/?sort=top&t=all that might be helpful. 

I also smoked pot often for a while, never got really into it. Actually stopped it a november after a really good yoga class when I realised that Im feeling 10x times better doing yoga then smoking weed.