six week update

[forever quitting]

Hey everyone

Just wanted to post you all with an update. Im 6 weeks and 4 days off the drug now and if any of you have read my previous posts you'll know it wasn't without it's troubles. I feel great at the moment, really positive and enjoying life again i've never been so busy and active - trying new things - which i would always put off before as i was a stoner and didn't feel 'good enough' or that 'i couldn't do it' - what a way to go through life in a fog of smoke and frightened of the unknown. Life is what you make it.

For all of you who are quitting/thinking about quitting, i can highly recommend it and for me the first 3 weeks were definitely the worst for withdrawals, boredom etc but you can do it and will feel better for it, it may take several attempts (it took me many and i know it still early days and i will always be careful to remember that) but if you want your life back, then do it!

I am able to still hang around with my friends who smoke and they are very understanding of my plight and support me, this really helps - if your friends cant be supportive of you trying to detox then they cant be real friends anyway and you are probably best to avoid them while quitting, until you are strong enough anyway.

i have caught up with a lot of long-term friends who i had lost touch with and couldn't be bothered connecting with before due to only being able to 'connect' with potheads before and this is so rewarding, i forget how many great people i know.

Ive not been posting on here much recently but still log on as i feel this cannabis rehab site has helped so much and if i can help anyone else by sharing my story then that makes me happy. If anyone wants to talk or advice (im no expert but pretty clued up on it!) then please feel free to get in touch

Much love and keep strong everyone

FQ

[forever quitting]

7 weeks today, yipee!

[Cannabis Rehab Admin]

Well done buddy keep up the good work!

[man with no name]

FQ, at this point in your recovery, do you find yourself dreaming about it and waking up disappointed or relieved that it was only a dream? I've heard this is quite common and a natural process to recovery. Before I realized this, I used to think that it was some dark evil power hell bent on not releasing me, trying to tempt me back in again.

[forever quitting]

Hey man with no name

Yes i am constantly having mad dreams which mostly involve me smoking and my subconscious trying to get through to me to say 'what are you doing, you dont smoke that anymore' but in the dreams i just carry on but very disappointed in myself - the relief when i do wake up is immense as the dreams feel so real and convince me i am back smoking again. are you stopped just now, have noticed your struggles with alcohol and weed?

FQ

[man with no name]

We have all felt that disappointment in ourselves for starting again. I have never had a dream where I was upset in the dream for smoking. In fact, I quite enjoyed myself and was happy that I didn't have to pay the consequences the next day. At this point in the past, I had relapsed several times. Just couldn't get past that dream phase. My dad told me that when he was a kid growing up in the war, he used to dream about bread. Maybe the dreams suggest the physical side of the addiction as much as the psychological. I know better now not to respond to those dreams but they are very tempting. My struggles with alcohol and the drug are going very well actually. I'm hanging tough. It sucks at times but I just try to take it a half a day at a time. If I can get to the evening without sparking up I can last the rest of it and the next day, rinse, lather, and repeat. It sucks while you're going through it, but well worth it at the end of the day. It feels very rewarding and I'm proud of myself for slaying a demon. But I'm careful not to get over confident and feel I can handle just one and then fall into the whole cycle all over again. One day I would like to control it and have one here and there once in awhole but that day isn't here yet. Not for me. I don't know when but I'm not in a hurry for it. If I do smoke one, I'd like it to be all about excercising control over it and not smoking the next day nor the next week. Being more conscious of complacency and the subtle way that it can creep back into a daily habit. If there's such a thing as drinking responsibly, there must also be a such a thing of smoking responsibly and achieving that would be a good thing. God Bless.

[man with no name]

I've been filling my time and keeping my mind busy with surfing the Internet, contributing to discussion forums about my football team, not soccer but Canadian Football, and of course reading and contributing to this forum. I have money to go out but I want to save all I can for the future. It's amazing how much more sociable I am when I don't drink and smoke including ciggies. Have cut down to 4 or 5 tobacco cigarettes a day and couldn't beleive the cardio and mood improvements in such a short time. Today I went on a 5 mile run. I'm improving there. Started out last month, could only run barely 2. Now I'm up to 5. Could have gone 6 but I wanted to walk the last mile to smell the roses. It felt so good. The humidity has lifted here and it is sunny and dry, 80 degrees. It was especially nice to stop and talk to elderly neighbours who were complimenting me on my discipline. I felt genuinely interested in talking with them. I never would never have stopped to talk in the past. I felt more confident and not anxious and got such a lift from being the old me again, that I sprinted 200 yards. I couldn't believe my speed and strength. How fast those tree landmarks came whizzing by for this 46 year old. After the first hundred yards I just kept going. People in the park were taking notice. I mean, I was flying. The energy I had surprised even me. I ran the whole 200 yards without letting up a step. And when I finished I wasn't even winded. Now I feel great. This buzz will last all day.

[forever quitting]

Nice one - you truly are living again. know what you mean about talking to the elderly neighbours - i speak to everyone now, i am interested in other people other than myself and it's a good feeling. well done

FQ

[forever quitting]

well its 9 weeks off the drug today. Not feeling as positive as have done in the last few weeks. have hit this stage before when quitting. when you first quit, after the initial 3 weeks of hell following quitting, follows a real 'high' period where you kind of feel a bit invincible and there's no stopping me and everyone is so full of encouragement and praise and pats on the back and then you just then have to adjust to normal life and people are kinda at the stage where they're perhaps thinking you're over it but addiction is an ongoing thing and continual support is needed, for me anyway. im not down but just not as full of hope as was say a couple of weeks ago. i think im just going through an adjustment phase which i'll just have to work through. trying to keep busy, was going to pack in my job and go to uni but the course i want is full and no likely chance of places becoming available - this has got me a wee bit down as i really wanted to do the course and felt that it would have been a much needed change, something which i could never have done when i was a stoner. never mind i am going to apply to do it next year so just need to find lots of positive things to fill in the next year. should really concentrate on getting rid of my stoner debt that i have accumulated by paying for things on my credit card when i was to busy spending my wages on weed. This therefore means not really having the money to do the things i want to do as paying off my debts, therefore not being able to progress on with my new life, socialising and getting out there etc etc. there is a life lesson there i'm sure! anyway just wanted to share my thoughts.

FQ

[Detox Me]

Great JOB FQ

Just wanted to congratulate you. Just read your progress report. The quitting is hard and there are slumps in the proccess. But Its a good thing we are fighting for. I have to remind myself of the reasons I quit constantly somebody said you should laminate them and carry them with you...lol.. So Stay strong.

[forever quitting]

Hey Tonka

thanks for that. yeah you are right about slumps, i forgot about that and was just cruising along feeling untouchable from my 'high' of being able to quit. im at critical stage just now i think as it would be so easy to go back to it. i have got to that stage when you start thinking (forgetting) why you quit in the first place as it's not that bad. I know though for me it was that bad and as you say a wee checklist to carry about with me may be a good thing to do. i still keep checking in on here regularly as it reinforces my need not to smoke. Anyway Happy anniversary for next month dude however you spend it and really, really proud of you.

HUGE PAT ON THE BACK FROM SCOTLAND

FQ

[Cannabis Rehab Admin]

Hey FQ

Well done on your progress so far, remembering why it was that you quit is indeed a bit part of the battle, the mind starts to struggle as it continues with the long haul and starts to make counter arguments and justify why now that you have gone a little while it would be ok to have some now, but as soon as you do it’s back to square one and almost always results in you feeling disappointed with yourself. Hang in there buddy and keep reading the list, maybe even try to add to it now that you have not been smoking a little while and perhaps experienced other positive things that you weren’t aware that you would experience before. Stay strong and just take it one day at a time.

Take care and please keep us posted.

[forever quitting]

Thanks Rehab Admin for the support. 10 weeks today so another milestone. trying to stay positive and not thinking about the good times with the drug and try and remember the bad ones. would feel so let down if i caved in now and would let myself, friends and family down so that is a big enough reason to stay off as they all mean the world to me.

Thanks again

FQ

[Detox Me]

Great Job FQ! soon the weeks will be flying by you will not even notice. Each day that passes with you being clean is a little less thinking and craving.. a little less posibilities of you caving in.
Stay strong & thanks for the Pat!

[Daisy]

hey FQ, just wanted to say well done on the 10 wk mark, you're doing well and stick with it.

Daisy