Quitting Weed

Day 224 - why wait to the new year to quit weed. try starting now to get a head start 

I’m feeling great and happy that I’m doing my 2nd pod this week. I was on hiatus, some unplanned (I got the flu) and some of it planned (vacation), and then I got a little lazy when I was back from vacation. But now I’m back to doing regular podcast episodes.So it got me thinking that if you are around others who smoke and you can’t avoid them. Then let them know that you are quitting weed. They may surprise you and support you. And won’t offer any weed to you or maybe just smoke less or not around you. And who knows, you might inspire them to quit weed. And if you do, then, believe me, you will feel good, and it helps you stay off of weed. There is something about helping others. When you do, you feel great.That is why I feel great right now. I’m clean from weed, and I’ve been inspiring others to quit weed too.If you have questions or comments or want to say hi - email me at quittingweed@protonmail.com or send me a message on Twitter @quittingweedpod.I also started a service I will offer to people who want an accountability partner. Someone to talk to too about quitting weed.https://quittingweedpod.gumroad.com/l/accountability-partnerWith this service, you’ll get the following:A 40 min zoom call with me where you can talk with me about all things quitting weedFree 40-page Quitting Weed eBook (PDF)You can have me as your accountability partnerYou can share your progress on quitting weedYou can tell me your struggles with quitting weedI will listen to youI will provide you with supportI will give specific tips for quitting weedI will do my best to answer any questions you haveThe zoom call will have my camera off so I can remain anonymousIf you are unsatisfied with the service within 30 days, I will refund your money. No questions askedAnd I have five discount codes available where you can get this service (one 40 min zoom call) for free (regular price $97). I only have five discount codes available. The code is QWFREE. Again the code is QWFREE. I also have the code in the show notes and the link to view and purchase this service.And if that is too much to pay for, just remember that this pod will always be free.

I’m back after a month-long hiatus. I’m still clean from weed. I haven’t smoked weed while I was gone. I was tempted a couple of times, but held firm and kept thinking about why I wanted to quit weed and what weed does to me if I do smoke which helped me stay off of weed. Which works for me.I feel this pod keeps me accountable, so if I do this pod regularly, I will likely think about smoking weed less. So I’m hoping that I will have another episode in a couple of days.

- It took me years and many failures (maybe 1000 of them for me) before I quit weed. Being hard on yourself won’t help you quit weed. It will probably make it worse- Life is tough as it is without you making it tougher on you. Quitting weed is not going to be perfect. I wasn’t able to quit the first time, either. Or the second time or the 900th time. I failed a lot- Take failure as part of the journey. If you relapse with weed, just clear your mind and move on with the day. There is no reason to torment yourself on how you weren’t able to quit weed- Just don’t be hard on yourself. It is not good for your health. You have to treat yourself well. I know this sounds corny, but you have to love yourself

- I was very close to smoking weed yesterday. I had a tough day at work and home. And my first thought was that I needed some weed. It will help me take my mind off of all the crap that is going on in my head- But then I paused. Put the phone down and took a deep breath through my nose and out my nose. I did this about five times- Then I remember reading online about addiction, and when you are about to go back to the thing that you quit, in this case, it was weed for me, think about why you quit. Think about the bad things that weed does to you. Think about the things when you did relapse. How did you feel?- And because of that, I was able to put off smoking weed. I didn’t want to get high. Not sure if this advice would work for everyone, but it worked for me last nightI also started a service I will offer to people who want an accountability partner. Someone to talk to too about quitting weed. https://quittingweedpod.gumroad.com/l/accountability-partnerWith this service, you’ll get the following:A 40 min zoom call with me where you can talk with me about all things quitting weedFree 40-page Quitting Weed eBook (PDF)You can have me as your accountability partnerYou can share your progress on quitting weedYou can tell me your struggles with quitting weedI will listen to youI will provide you with supportI will give specific tips for quitting weedI will do my best to answer any questions you haveThe zoom call will have my camera off so I can remain anonymousIf you are unsatisfied with the service within 30 days, I will refund your money. No questions askedAnd I have five discount codes available where you can get this service (one 45 min zoom call) for free (regular price $97). I only have five discount codes available. The code is QWFREE.https://quittingweedpod.gumroad.com/l/accountability-partner

- benefits on quitting weed for 6 months- no weed hangover- more time to do stuff- saving money- eating better- more social 

Instead of trying to quit weed for the rest of your lifeOr for 1 yearOr for 6 monthsTry quitting weed for 2 weeksOr even 1 week if 2 weeks seems like too muchSometimes setting a small goal is better than a big goalBig goals are toughIn the IT world, there has been a push to plan things 2 weeks at a time. Sometimes even 1 week at a timePlanning something for the next 6 months is toughQuitting weed for 6 months is toughInstead set a goal of quitting weed for 1 to 2 weeksThat might make goal more achievable and less likely to fail, even though failure is a part of quitting

- Do I still think about Smoking Weed? Sometimes I do- I am still clean since I quit 169 days ago, but there are times that I want to smoke some weed- They don't happen very often; maybe once every 6 weeks- They tend to happen when I have a free night with no wife or daughter around- I want to enjoy and in the past, I would enjoy my time with weed- But I know if I give into the weed, then I would be back smoking it on a regular basis- It's okay to think about weed. And when I do, I just take some deep breaths and tell myself that I don't need it- It's worked so far

- For me, quitting weed completely was the only way. I tried to be a weekend-only smoker, but I couldn’t even make it to Wednesday before I would give in and smoke some weed- But for those of you that are having trouble quitting weed completely. Maybe just try to smoke less- And I suspect you will gain some of the benefits that you would get if you quit weed completely - saving money (smoking less means you buy less weed), being less desensitized to weed (meaning you may need less weed over time to get high), having your senses come back (being able to laugh or relax without weed or less weed), and having less brain fog- So maybe try reframing your journey to get off of weed completely to smoking less

- I never suffered from extreme anxiety. But I am human, so I do get some anxiety. Most of the time, my environment and situation cause anxiety. And in the past, I would smoke weed to lower or eliminate my anxiety- And I think that was just a clutch. It never prepared me for handling anxiety- Now that I’m clean from weed, I have to face those issues and anxiety- I’ve found that breathing calms me down and allows my brain to think clearly. If an issue needs a solution, I’ll breathe slowly from my nose for 2 minutes- And then, I come up with a solution to handle it. If it is an issue where there is no solution, then I still do the breathing- Then I frame the issue that I’m dealing with as something that is not important, and usually, I’m making it a big deal in my head when it really shouldn’t be a big deal

- When I smoked, most people didn’t know that I smoked. But the ones that knew I smoked, basically defined me as a smoker- They would say that I smoked more weed than anyone that they knew. And they probably weren’t wrong about that- At first I thought is cool being the weed smoker. Like I was in this rarified club. But after awhile, I didn’t feel that way. If anything I felt embarrassed if others knew that I smoked- Now I’ve only been clean from weed for 152 days. But I don’t think of myself as a smoker anymore. It doesn’t define me anymore. Weed is not a part of my life anymore- For me, I couldn’t smoke weed casually. For it me, it was all consuming. Weed really did define me. It’s nice not being defined by weed anymore

- I’ve been up almost all night. We had a beeping sound all night. I thought it was the smoke alarm that was on the ceiling. I disabled all of them by taking out the battery. But the beeping sound still persisted. I couldn’t figure it out- I decided to let it go and just rest for the night. My wife and daughter were able to sleep with the beeping noise. I could not, but I decided to rest and let it go- In the past, I would have smoked some weed to take the edge off. And it got me thinking that sometimes a little stress while sober is good- Life can be stressful, albeit it is mostly caused by own reactions. Still, we are humans, not robots, so those reactions that cause stress will always come- The stress is gone, and I feel like things are good again. By being sober and off of weed, I would be much stronger at handling the times that stress appears

- I'm new to meditation. I'm not a very good meditator- At first I started to do 10 minutes a day, but it didn't stick- Now I meditate 2 minutes a day- After a couple of weeks, I found it working- I now stop myself before I get into an argument with someone (ex - my wife, family)- The 2 min meditation has allowed me to think things through before I open my mouth- I think this type of meditation can also help you from smoking weed when the thought of smoking comes thru your brain 

- I received some kind words on a Twitter DM from a listener. They said that this pod acts as support. I never thought about it in that way. I was grateful to receive that message- I do like the idea that this pod is like a support system. To let you know that quitting weed isn’t easy, and it’s possible. And that life after quitting weed can be quite good- I know I’ve said this before, but the feedback I get from this pod really makes me feel good. And that I will continue to do this pod for a long while. And this pod will continue to be free- I truly believe my calling in life is to help others who want to quit weed in an inspirational way, not a nagging way

- When I smoked weed, I would get this cough. I think they call it smokers cough- The cough was annoying. And sometimes, the cough would last for days and then go away. And then it would come back again in a couple of weeks. It would always be around the corner- And the voice sounded like a smoker. It was scratchy. Now I could smoke less. You know what they say - the dose makes the poison. But that wasn’t possible for me- No wonder I would get the smoker’s cough and scratchy voice. But since I quit smoking, I don’t get the smoker’s cough. And my voice is just fine- And it also made me realize all the smoke I was inhaling couldn’t be good for me. Especially the amount that I was smoking

- Last night I worked past dinner. Not ideal. I like to eat dinner with my family. After I finished my work, I put my daughter to bed. Then I went to bed too. I was a little hungry but didn’t want to eat so close to bedtime. When I eat right before I go to sleep, my resting heart rate goes way up, and I usually wake up feeling groggy- And in the past, when I smoked weed, I would eat even more food close to bedtime. The combination of smoking weed and eating junk food close to bedtime makes me groggy when I wake up- So when I woke up this morning feeling great, I was thinking to myself - that I am glad I don’t smoke weed anymore

- Quitting weed has made me a better a me- Better physical health- Better mental health- Just a better person- But having a streak of not smoking weed (and this pod) has kept me from smoking weed

- When I smoked weed, it was for fun and relaxation. It made me calm. Things wouldn’t bother me. I would rarely get angry. But then something happened in the last 5 years. I didn’t get as calm as I used to when I started smoking weed- If anything, my trigger to overreact and get angry got quicker. I’m not sure why. It could be that I smoked so much weed that I became desensitized to weed. I needed more and more weed to get to that state of relaxation that I used to get with just one puff of weed- Now I think there are some of you that might be afraid that if you quit weed, you won’t be calm. My advice - try exercise, getting enough sleep, and meditating for 2 minutes a few times a day- It is possible to be calm without weed

- Lately, I’ve been thinking about time and place. And that there are larger things that determine your fate. What does this mean? I’m not sure myself- I don’t think I would have succeeded in quitting weed 5 or 10, or 15 years ago. I enjoyed weed too much. I didn’t think I had a problem. I was too smart, actually not smart but too arrogant, to think weed harmed me- It wasn’t my time to quit weed. I don’t think I was ready to quit weed until 5 months ago. It was like there was something or someone bigger that was going to determine when I quit weed- And that is why I have this pod. I wanted to help others realize that quitting weed is possible and that it doesn’t involve any special type of magic- But if you are struggling to quit weed and have a hard time getting to day 2 or 7. I just want you to know that it is possible to quit even with periods of little failures- And that this pod may be the larger thing in play that helps you realize that the time is now or coming soon when you will be able to quit weed successfully- If you have questions, comments, or want to say hi - email me at quittingweed@protonmail.com or send me a message on Twitter @quittingweedpod

- I was at the farmers market last week to buy some fruits and vegetables. They also have a fresh pasta stand there too. I normally don’t buy pasta at the farmers’ market, but for some reason, I wanted to buy fresh pasta- The guy that was selling it was super blazed. His eyes were super red. And he smelled of weed - no judgment on my part. I used to be him. When I used to go to the farmers market, I would smoke weed in the car before I shopped for food. I just wanted to be high. And my eyes would be super red. A lot of times, I would not have Visine with me- But it is nice not to smoke weed and worry about red eyes. I’m fine with others that want to smoke weed. I’m not anti-weed. And I do think it serves a purpose. But it made me think I don’t have to get high just to do errands like shopping at the farmers market. Shopping at the farmers market shouldn’t have to feel like a chore. Now I go to the market to shop for fruits and vegetables, and I enjoy it without being high