Posted by octopusprime on August 11, 2004, at 0:51:17
In reply to Re: I've got to figure out how to stop too!, posted by TexasChic on August 3, 2004, at 15:01:39
> So I guess the trick is to take care of the problems we're trying to escape.
this is funny to me texaschic ...
when i quit smoking daily, i didn't bother solving my problems first. in fact, quitting smoking weed made some of my problems worse. my social network thought i was "weird" for not smoking up. some of my friends couldn't relate to me when i was sober. and i lost friends. and made things worse. it was hard. hard. hard.
but then again: when i quit it was on the advice of my doctor. that my psych meds would never get a fair trial if i didn't try quitting. and i was more scared about being depressed for the rest of my life, about feeling awful forever, that quitting weed and causing problems was worth it to avoid that pain.
it took me forever to work on solving the problems that "caused" me to smoke. in a way i haven't solved them, i wouldn't be returning to med therapy if i had. but i did wind up meeting a man who had just quit smoking dope, had a relationship with him (learning how to behave sober almost the whole time), left a relationship with him, and spent some time on my own filling my days without drugs. hard. hard. hard. but worth it! so worth it. i can't recognize the person i left behind two years ago when i quit. i feel so much stronger in so many ways.
but i think "solving your problems" first is a red herring ... we can never solve all our problems. if you don't have a compelling reason to quit, don't. but i did it for my mental health, and for that i was grateful, so if that's at all inspirational to you, take hold of that. if it's not, leave it, and do what makes you happy.
poster:octopusprime
thread:368221
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/subs/20040722/msgs/376270.html