Hey all,

What is the right way to quit - this is probably just paranoia but like is cold turkey a safe way to quit? Or is it better to try and taper down usage until there is no usage ?

The tapering down I have tried over and over again and I always end up over consuming again - I think that cold turkey would be my only option to quit, is this the way?

EDIT:

Thanks everyone, you are all incredible people and I appreciate you!

I am no longer scared of quitting cold turkey, today was my last day!

Answer is big no , I am devastated as I was about to feel goods of quitting and leave the hell of withdrawal here I am starting again from zero. I am responsible for this I admit it . Pleased dont be me , dont let your mind play tricks on you. My mistake I just answered an old friend who still smokes and one day gone in smoke. I will come back stronger and this post will be my testimony. But for now it really sucks being me seriously.

I used to think staying sober was all about willpower.

Now I think it's mostly about conditioning my thoughts.

When I first quit weed, my reasons were powerful because they were fresh. I was painfully aware of everything it was doing to me... brain fog, laziness, binging junk food. Quitting wasn't that hard because my mind was completely focused on the downside.

But something changed over time.

The pain faded.

Without realizing it, I stopped thinking about why I quit. My mind slowly started remembering only the parts it enjoyed. I wasn't craving weed because it had become more appealing, I was craving it because I'd stopped reinforcing the downside of smoking.

That's when I realized something that changed everything.

The mind naturally moves toward whatever it thinks about most.

If I constantly rehearse the benefits of sobriety, staying sober feels natural. If I constantly replay the pleasure of getting high, eventually that's the direction I'll start drifting.

It's like a scale in my mind.

On one side are all the reasons to stay sober.

On the other side are all the reasons to smoke.

Whichever side I keep adding weight to eventually wins.

So now I spend a couple of minutes every day adding weight to the sobriety side. I revisit the costs of smoking and the benefits of living without it. I made a long list and I don't just read the words, I remember what they felt like.

That simple habit made more difference than all the willpower I ever tried to use.

People understand that the body has to be trained over and over again to remain healthy. I don't know why we expect the mind to be any different.

So I now make sure I never forget the reasons I quit

by mentally reinforcing the truth every single day... but it only works if you actually do it consistently. Never give up!

Weed is harmless.

But if you get high every day, nothing else in your life will be as exciting as your drug.. for a while. Hopes and dreams slowly die at the altar of your addiction.

The cost of weed isn't just what you pay at the dispensary. It's also the hopes, dreams, and opportunities you give up along the way. The real price is everything.

So you decide to quit, hoping to restore all the best things in life.

But now withdrawal steals both the high and the dreams, leaving joyless emptiness in their place. For weeks you feel flat, and it's torturous. You get no pleasure from effort and no high from weed. You're stuck in no man's land, desolate and hopeless.

Then your inner voice starts to bargain.

"At least weed made your unbearable life bearable."

"But all I need is more time. Three months. Six months. Maybe a whole year."

A whole year? I can't wait a year to fix my life.

Besides, if I smoke now, I'll get so high. My tolerance is gone. And I deserve it. I can moderate my use this time. I don't even know why I quit in the first place. I'm a good person. Gotta have fun sometimes, right?

So you give in.

Just once or twice.

Or every day for the next six months.

Then you finally decide it's time to quit... and begin the same miserable cycle all over again.

Forever.

Yeah... weed's harmless, all right.

Hiiii!
I thought I'd come back and leave something positive for anyone maybe going through what I did.
I was a pretty heavy THC smoker but eventually it did nothing for me. I thought it would help me gain weight but I maintained more than anything.
I decided to go clean also in efforts for my partner to get a new job. I went through it for real, I made so many posts because I was desperate. 1-2 months later my appetite came back SO strong. Honestly when people told me this wild happened I laughed and felt as if it wasn't true. I was 90 ish lbs and now I'm 130🥹 ever since I was young gaining weight was so hard for me. It was also a healing moment for my mom when I told her how much I weighed. Any ways, it's tough & still think about going back but all this hard work didn't happen for NO reason. Keep pushing you got this 💞

I used to use everyday multiple times a day for almost 10 years when I decided to finally quit thanks to this sub. After 155 days I thought I could give it a try again since I had a vacation coming up so I got a pen. I finished the pen before even going on vacation after I said I’d just try it at night to see how it was. Night quickly turned into days which turned into mornings which turned into 24/7. One pen then turned into 3 pens. This continued into my vacation until I ran out on the last day. Im now back and am trying to go back to being on track. Ive realized I could never be a casual user so here we are back on day 4 again. There’s no physical withdrawal symptoms like when I stopped the first time except maybe for sleep but it’s a lot mentally again. Im so disappointed in myself and lack of self control.

I began smoking weed in 2022. 2023 was the best financial year of my life making more money than I ever made before and was able to have unique experiences all the time because I had the money to do it. 3 years later after chronic use and the bad decisions to go along with it I am in severe debt, unemployed, about to file bankruptcy, had to move back home with my family, and lost friendships/direction in life. It took me so long to finally quit but coming home after living alone and drowning in debt and using weed to cope, I realized the past 2 years were a complete failure due to me not being fully present due to compulsive weed usage. From sun up to sun down. I isolated heavily and that period of my life will come to be one I bury and never revisit.

I am a few weeks into sobriety and I feel all over the place mentally but it is kind of a good feeling knowing that I have already hit rock bottom and there is nowhere to go but up. I want everyone reading this to heed my story and realize that weed will never fill the hole you feel inside! I ruined my life smoking weed! But now I am fighting back! Don’t give up!

54 days ago I quit THC after years of abusing it. At my worst I was smoking 4–5 joints every single day. What started as something I thought was helping me slowly pulled me into a black hole of depression, laziness, and isolation.

I couldn't hold down a job. I'd get hired, lose all motivation, quit, and repeat the same cycle over and over. I convinced myself it wasn't the weed, but looking back, it played a huge role.

Today, things are different.

I've been working the same job for the last 3 months, and for the first time in a long time I'm actually sticking with something. I wake up, go to work, and feel like I'm slowly rebuilding my life.

For anyone who's just starting their journey, here are a few things that genuinely helped me:

- Reading books whenever my mind was racing.

- Spending more time with my family instead of isolating myself.

- Having a support system I could talk to.

- Going to the gym consistently. Exercise helped my mood more than I expected.

- During the first couple of weeks, whenever I had intense urges, I'd dunk my face into a bowl of ice-cold water. It would snap me out of the craving and calm me down.

- The first week was rough. I had trouble sleeping, so I'd watch movies or listen to podcasts until I got sleepy instead of lying in bed overthinking.

- I cut off all the friends I used to smoke with. That was one of the hardest but best decisions I made.

I'm not going to pretend it's easy. Some days were unbelievably hard, and even now I still get urges once in a while. I know it'll probably take more time for my brain to fully settle, but compared to where I was 54 days ago, I feel like a completely different person.

If you're in the early days of quitting, please don't give up. Even if you don't notice it day by day, your life can slowly start coming back together.

Thank you to everyone in this community. Reading your stories reminded me that I wasn't alone.

One day at a time. ❤️

3 days in. Been thinking about letting the flower go for a while now. Life's been an uphill battle, I decided recently I'd rather confront the emotions than mask them. 33M, 15 years of regular evening/weekend use. Last night I couldn't sleep at all, felt like shit. Whoop says I slept for 2hrs 7 mins, typical sleep for me is 8hrs 5mins. I walked downstairs to load up a bowl, but I opened this page first and read all of your journeys' & experiences and decided to stay in the fight!!!!

I got myself into this situation, and god damn it, I am going to get myself out of it!!!! my wife and kids deserve me at my best and I am driving hard to get there!!

Hi all

I have been on and off the sober train. Today is my first day sober again.

What weed in particular support groups are out there?

I am aware I can’t do this without support.

I’m in therapy she knows everything.

For me personally, a reward system helps me achieve goals. Let’s say after 5 days, 10 days sober etc i allow myself something. But this usually translates to shopping or sweet treats etc. does anyone have any rewards they use for themselves that doesnt include spending money?

M32. I've seen from other posts that it can take 3-6 months and maybe longer for anything to change, I just hate the way I'm feeling at the moment. I eat clean, excersize daily and get good amounts of sleep, but my dopamine receptors are fried and i'm getting little to no joy out of life at the moment. Heart rate/blood pressure is also up which doesn't help the situation. I just want my libido back and to be interested in sex again, as of now it's stressing me out greatly. Getting an erection is doable but maintaining it is impossible, my mind wonders and it just doesn't feel that great self pleasuring. Just feels crazy that i'm 32, at a point in life where I should be seriously horny, but just arn't. I absolutely used weed over the past 10 years as a sexual aid, I could be rock hard and go for a good hour....now there's no stamina nor erection quality. Bummer

For further context I had to stop after 10 years daily 420 use due to having CHS symptoms, signifanct abdominal cramps and nausea. So it's not really an option to go back to 420....

Need to get my thoughts out..

Smoked weed for the first time when I was an 18 year old freshman in college. It didn’t start out as an every day habit, but it’s turned into one over the years. I’m turning 27 this year.

I’ve said this more times than I can count, but I want to quit. I’m going to quit.

I was able to stop smoking last year when I moved back home for a few months due to life circumstances. The first day I moved into my new apartment, I got a new grinder and pipe. Threw them out recently, so some progress there.

I want to quit so I can reconnect with myself and the people around me. I want to quit so I can feel alive again. I want to quit so I can be healthy and not throw my future years away.

I don’t want to 30, 35, etc. asking myself what I could’ve done with all the money, health, energy, and dedication that I have sunk into smoking weed.

I’m already asking myself that at 26.

I know I can’t rely on other people to get me out of this hole I’ve dug myself into. I can’t blame others for the position I find myself in either. My girlfriend smokes a lot of weed, and we smoke together pretty much every time we hang out. I’m a little worried about how this (desired) change will impact our relationship down the line.

I’m sitting here in my apartment after work wanting to smoke. It’s (another) Day 1 for me. I’ve downloaded a habit tracker so I have some sort of progress I can physically look at. Maybe that will help.

Any advice, tips tricks, etc, all appreciated.

Hi all, I hope you are all doing well 💕

I am really proud of myself for hitting 10 days, but I am still really struggling with waking up in the morning. I just can’t get out of bed, and keep setting alarms etc. I sleep well, for a full amount of time (7.5-8.5 hours) and take iron tablets for my low iron.

Just wondering if maybe it’s related to me going sober. Has anyone else had this and found it hard to shake? Thanks x

I feel like I literally can’t stop smoking weed. I first started smoking 5 years ago only at nights for the first 2 months then it quickly led to a 5 year period of all day everyday. From the minute I woke up to the moment I fall asleep I’d smoke. I’ve had periods of working throughout but I’ll still smoking the minute I walk through the door. It causes me health problems and it has been for months and I still use it. It’s been making my heart pound for the past 12 months every time I smoke yet I’ll still smoke. I’ve had holidays which are for not smoking and I’ll smoke either while their somehow or slowly from once at night then all day everyday again once I’m home. I want to stop so badly and I plan to just go cold turkey from once I wake up i don’t enjoy it one bit.

Lifelong user quit cold turkey. So it’s been quite difficult so far. Sleep is bad but that’s always been an issue with me hence why I started the Penjamin, also depression is back and that’s not ideal. However due to promotion at work I need my head clear and safe to say it’s getting clearer I feel like the old me again.

Pros Started to date again Exercising again Apartment is clean Eating healthy no more binge eating

Cons Bored out of my mind Rage is uncontrollable Anxiety Breathing feels difficult?? Miss the feeling of just forgetting the world

I feel motivated again and started to build apps to fill the boredom and let the creative side of me out. Thinking of making a tracker app to help us quit THC pens, would love any ideas you guys have!

This subreddit has helped me so much, thank you guys!!

I feel like I've done this so many times where I quit smoking weed, then my nicotine/vaping ramps up like crazy, I eventually cave and go back to both. Same has happened where I quit vaping then I'm smoking way more weed and it's such a crappy cycle and place to be at. It just feels like continuing one leads me to justify starting back the other and I'm tired of playing this game with myself. I know my triggers for smoking in general are from stress but idk how to push through those stressful moments like a non addicted person. I just feel embarrassed I'm so reliant on these things and I feel like caving all the time. It's the hardest at nights because I usually smoked weed to unwind the day but vaping is an all day thing. Seriously any advice on how to push through this stuff is appreciated because the weed is one thing but losing that makes me fall into vaping more and I just wanna stop

Hi friends. I am early on in completely quitting weed. I feel really ready and resolute, and I'm doing really OK so far.

The thing is, I've realized I used weed a lot to avoid hard things in my life. My wonderful live-in boyfriend of 7 years drinks too much. Like, way too much. He is an obnoxious drunk. I used to just smoke when this got uncomfortable....now I need to face it.

I am resolved to talk to him this week. My therapist says that I need to state MY boundaries, and not put it on him, but let him know I dont want my partner to drink excessively. That won't be a part of my future.

I'm terribly avoidance (see: above) and take meds for depression and anxiety already....any tips for how to make this talk go easier for both me and him?

Thank you so much to this community, for helping me get to this point. ❤️

It’s been 41 hours since my last hit of THC. I’ve cried three separate times already and got super existential sad last night before bed. I have been feeling depressed anxious and isolated from the world for too long. Starting to feel angry about all the time weed has stolen from me… angry at myself for getting to this point and making these choices in the first place. But it’s time to wake up and start living!

I am going to join a local run club tonight (I’m not a runner but I’m willing to try). Trying to stay busy during my usual smoke hours. Wish me luck! 😬

Day 2, attempt # i dont even know, ive lost count. Its turned into a weekly spin of the wheel whether im using or not at this point and im tired of having the constant tug of war in my head, its like im already expecting to go back to it once I feel ive got a bit of a bounce back in my step, because ive done it so many times ive lost count.

The way I use changed pretty drastically over the past year. Im 36 now, started smoking at around 22 with perhaps a 6 month break being the only significant stint of sobriety in those 14 years. I always use to keep my use to the evenings, 3 joints usually. I was on some meds last year that made me more resistance to the effects of thc and that ended up with me being able to get through 4 or 5 big fat joints (i roll with tobacco) in 2 hours. A usual night is getting in from work at 6, smoking 2 or 3 joints in a short space of time, consume porn, then nap. Its like I dont enjoy the effects of being high unless Im consuming adult media, the two are pretty much one in the same to my brain now. The past few months ive also introduced other, 'harder' drugs into my routine so I just feel like the more I resist the harder I fall backwards.

So because I nap for between an hour or two, now im up until 2 or 3am easily on work nights continuing to smoke, so I'll get through 3g+ worth of green in 24 hours using tobacco the whole time with it. My lungs and throat must be shot. Im exhausted all of the next day, and the cycle repeats. Im sure poor sleep accounts for a significant reason why my mental healths in the shitter when im using but ive proven to myself dozens of times that I just cant be responsible using it, so I know my only option is to stop. Im just stuck in this constant cycle of stopping and starting again.

Im not sure what I wanted from this post to be honest. Ive browsed here for years and helps break me out of the loop where your brain convinces you that you're the only one to use a certain way or have certain habits when the addicts in charge. Ive got a lot of shame around it all, I have a lot of support available that ive leaned on countless times before but im just ashamed to keep going back and saying im still struggling with the same stuff, I just wanted to vent a little more than anything I think.

Went to dispensary got a joint and took 3 hits and threw it out right away. I can’t believe i was feeling high like this all day long before. The symptoms came back right away including the mood swings. Back to day one, ugh

hi everyone!! its been almost a week since I kicked this ugly nasty habit. Thankfully my CHS symptoms have started to subside and I’m slowly getting my appetite back which is great. but im curious if anyone also got sick after like a week or so? I think maybe my body and immune system got really weak from the withdrawals and I picked up some random cough. which sucks because coughing in the morning makes me feel like I need to dry heave. gonna try to take a cough suppressant or whatever

Been using weed increasingly heavily for 10 years.

Had really bad hyperemesis syndrome yesterday— this is at least the 4 episode of emesis.

Decided with my psychiatrist that I will hold myself accountable for 90 days of no weed. I need to feel what it’s like to be without it— something I haven’t had for a decade.

I already miss how it makes mundane things easier and more fun. But realize that the price is too high.

I will create a structured plan for myself to keep active as much as possible. Busy as much as possible— this I know will keep me strong 💪.

Please share your hacks to keep the positive effects of the weed (feeling more fun and playful socially— increasing productivity for mundane tasks—clearing my mind of distractions and tolerating painful things).

I hope that at the end of 90 days — I choose to not go back.

Day 12: I’m having a rough day, today. Lots of life stresses that seem insoluble. I really, really, really want to get blissed out. Words of support would be appreciated.

I had to finally quit weed and coffee for some health issues with my heart, and today is day 7. I'm a week free! Friends and family say I seem lighter, brighter, and happier and you know what? They are right. Withdrawals have been better than in the past, which convinced me mindset and setting are vital to this process. I wasn't going to celebrate until another beautiful soul in here reminded me that I still am making a choice not to smoke, regardless of why I'm quitting and it's good to mark the achievements. So I'm taking myself to get some boba tea with double tapioca pearls today, because I deserve to celebrate this milestone.

For everyone struggling to quit, you can do this! I smoked daily for 20 years and the day I quit I realized I was finally choosing myself, not the smoke. I deserve my health and happiness and so do you!