New and not sure about a plan to quit.

[seraphim]

Hey! I'm new here, and not sure of what I need to do. I am 44, and a mum, wife, professional, blah blah blah. I am pretty well adjusted, and don't have much to complain about, but my life could be so much moe, you know?

I have been a daily or almost daily smoker for over 20 years. I have lived most of my days in a functoning pot stone. I work shift work, and if I am off, I smoke in the morning, through the day, and despite my best intentions to cut back, moderate, etc, I have failed each time...I have managed to quit for 3 - 6 months, but only because I moved to a new city and had no dealer!

I love to smoke. I dont drink, and dont smoke cigs, and have always seen pot as "my beer" after work...but it's having detrimental effects on my memory, my sharpness, my social activities, and my wallet.

But why do I have days where I just want to be clean, despite smoking a pipe at the same time, and then other days (like today), where I have to work, and am waiting until I can punch out and go home and have a smoke?



I don't condemn anyone that smokes pot. It has helped me any many people I know get through pain, difficult times, nausea, chemo, etc. And I have often seen pot to be beneficial over pharmaceuticals, but it's not good for me anymore, and it's time to stop.

My husband smokes, only because of me, and he's a daily habit now too...I feel so responsible, and I think that if he decided to quit, he would (like how he quit cigs), but I have to be prepared to quit with it still in the house. I won't ask someone else to stop because I need to. Life is full of temptations...

and we dont smoke in the house, but it's still something "secret", you know?

Anyway, pot has been such a part of my everyday life for half of it, part of the freaky underground culture I became part of as a young woman, part of the Deadhead scene I was into, and it was always cool, and fun to smoke a joint and just go about my day, but now I'm just like an old lady who can't stop, despite the littel wheeze in my chest, the stink, and my lousy short term memory. Not so cool anymore.

So I come here for help, words of wisdom, and a possible plan to get it out of my life...

[BFB]

Hi and welcome to the group,

My apologies none of us have had a chance to respond sooner, I hope you are still around. Yes our own individual plan to quit, it does indeed take some thought and although there are always certain similarities in the way we must all approach it there are often many differences too as to what exact approach is best for us. Some people will throw themselves into exercise, others may be much more lethargic and just wait for the time to pass in their own way. I personally am a great believer that the more you occupy your mind the better your chances of succeeding, I think you need to exercise but also fill your time with as many other things that you like to do.

I think you need to use every type of activity possible to keep your spirits and moral up as it is very much a mind game and just when you think you have out smarted it is often when it will outsmart you, so you always need to be mindful of your situation and what you need to be doing to stay one step ahead.

You may want to check out my own tips I compiled on how best to quit although I did write it quite some time ago and would probably have many more to add now.

http://www.forummatters.com/forums/s...p-Smoking-Weed

I think one of the best pieces of advice I could give is just to take it one day at a time and just to have compassion and understanding for yourself while you go through what may be a very difficult situation, obviously it takes a combination of strategies and activities to help you get through this so take a look around the forum and read as many other posts as you can and any time you want to vent please feel free, keeping a diary of how you feel is also very cathartic and of great benefit.

Take care and I hope you post again,

All the best,