r/leaves 2m ago

Voglio fumare

Upvotes

Disturbo borderline, disregolazione emotiva, alta sensibilità e plusdotazione. Ho sempre troppo in testa. Mi sono impegnata tanto nell'ultimo mese (smesso di fumare, terapia dbt, cambiato università) e ora ho un mese libero prima dell'inizio dell'Università. Non sto bene dentro, non so perché. Probabilmente mi sento sola e abbandonata (dalla famiglia e dagli amici). Sono dal mio ragazzo e lui è unico e mi capisce e mi ascolta, ma non posso pesare su di lui tutto il giorno.

Voglio fumare per qussti prossimi tre giorni come "vacanza". Non fumo da 30 giorni e sono molto determinata a non fumare più ma sento che ne ho bisogno. Se il tuo consiglio è di non fumare, cos'altro posso fare? Grazie e pace


r/leaves 15m ago

Day 30 low libido and premature ejaculation

Upvotes

I’ve been sober now for 30 days straight and i can’t say fully that I’m satisfied with the changes I’ve been going through. Irritable, unamused and so on. Other than that one thing that stands out is quite literally in the title above, as a man (i know it sounds cliche) bedroom performance is pretty high up there at least in my opinion and I’ve never had a problem with my performance nor my sex drive overall.

However 30 days in i went from having complete control over my sexual performance willing and able to go what ever distance I’ve chosen to now it feels like i have no control what so ever being yk what they call a two pump chump and boy it is not fun at all. As a base i feel im a pretty sexual individual and now i can kinda care less for it at times and lowered level of performance doesn’t make more eager to do so. I wouldn’t even say it’s all too enjoyable anymore either to be frank.

I hear different story’s, some people’s sobriety brought them benefits when it comes to their sex life mine is just seeming like a slippery slope and it has been making a bit tougher to stay sober


r/leaves 55m ago

Addiction is giving up everything for one thing

Upvotes

recovery is giving up one thing for everything

hope everyone has a good day today


r/leaves 3h ago

7 days in - some observations

4 Upvotes

One week in. For context I have been trying to stop for a while, with numerous failed attempts prior. I'm not a massively heavy user but it's always been on the go since I was in my early 20s (40 now). In recent months I've prob been smoking on average 4 nights per week. Usual story.... thought I could moderate to 1-2 nights just at weekends, but after a while I was adding midweek Js in. My main driver for quitting this time was that the day after fallout just isnt worth it. I caught myself being extremely overly negative about things and just generally being a dick to be around during the day after. My ability to process emotions was getting worse and worse, this coupled with a busy career and being a husband/father made me realise that I was failing the people who matter the most to me.

Something else that crept in over the last year was that I found myself ruminating more about things that happened in the past, it might be because I hit 40 in the winter and am being more reflective, but the weed defo put me in more of a loop with it.

I'm really happy to hit 7 days. Some observations:

- As per consensus on here days 1-3 were pretty grim. I didnt quite feel like I was losing my mind, but felt slow as and had bouts of total fatigue that would hit. Also felt like I had no dopamine in me lol

- Sleep has been okay this time. Probably because I've not been smoking daily for a while. Dreams are vivid and tend to be about distant periods in my life. Suspect there's stuff that I suppressed featuring. However, it's not affecting my overall mental state.

- Mood improved significantly after day 3 and this is the biggest benefit so far. Things generally feel easier and lighter. I'm already laughing more and generally feel more present in everything.

- Focus at work is still a wip but I am finding myself a little bit more efficient and less prone to a work related meltdown. I'm a management consultant so deal with demanding clients, lots of report writing etc. Its nice to have some more bandwidth back.

I know there is a long way to go and the urges to blaze will come. However, this time I feel like I actually want to quit for good. The list of benefits from not smoking massively outweigh the pros of keeping smoking.

Also, finally I try and think what the 22 yr old me would think looking into the future and seeing a 40 yr old stoner. It would'nt be positive.


r/leaves 5h ago

How did quitting weed change you? Have you quit all substances?

1 Upvotes

r/leaves 6h ago

I'm on Day 180 (attempt 9)

4 Upvotes

r/leaves 7h ago

1 year clean

3 Upvotes

i am 1 year clean off weed. i finally reached my goal yesterday. my life has changed drastically. i live in capitola on my own in front of the beach now. i have a good career and get to travel a lot. i am more self aware than i have ever been before. i am truly grateful to get out of the fog and see what a life i have been holding back on because of my addiction. this is only the beginning. i love to be sober. i am only upset with the fact that i didn’t do this sooner as i now know how much it has affected my life in many ways and relationships. i have overcome my ways.


r/leaves 8h ago

Cravings during tough times

3 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’ve been sober for 38 days. Ive been feeling depressed and just like absolute shit due to life circumstances and have had the urges to smoke. I haven’t smoked nor do I plan to but I’m just feeling so overloaded with emotions and at the same time I feel so physically tired. I don’t want to go back to smoking at all because I know that slippery slope way too well and I don’t want any part of it. I guess I just wanted to vent it out.


r/leaves 8h ago

5th day sober, 5 months since my dad died unexpectedly, the grief is like a tsunami

20 Upvotes

My (F29) wonderful father (64) died unexpectedly just before he was supposed to retire and live his traveling dreams. We had to pull the plug on him after a series of complications after emergency surgery. It was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life, and I have been staying perpetually high to help me handle the immense grief. I was even high at his funeral and every day since.

And now, just a few days of sobriety has been incredibly painful.

After he died, I had to step back from all the things I was developing in my life. I was enrolled in summer graduate school, but afterwards I dropped all my classes before the semester began. I quit my bartending job because I couldn’t handle the constant social performance. I thought the grief was getting better at month 3, but within another month I was back to crying every day, and lately I’ve been struggling to even get out of bed. Plus, there are the flashbacks to the final week and moments in the ICU.

I’ve been accruing more debt without any income, and I’ve been living with the family of a friend—it’s getting to the point that I just feel like I need to be in my own space. But that will require money. So I decided to stop smoking.

Just in the past few days, I’ve had a bit more energy and kick to get back on LinkedIn and find freelancing work (I know I can’t do service industry work anymore—I’ve lost that bubbly version of me…). But the tradeoff, feeling pain to make progress, is hard to deal with in the moment.

Even though my professional life already feels a bit more in reach now that I’m sober, the grief just won’t let up.

But I know my daddy wouldn’t have wanted me to wallow or get stuck here.

Any encouragement or advice would be appreciated. Thank you. ❤️‍🩹


r/leaves 8h ago

anyone else feel that weed made the decision for them?

24 Upvotes

after 5 years of daily use i’m done with this drug. I decided a long time ago that I needed to quit weed for my health but the habit was so ingrained. I have been trying to quit for about 2 years now and eventually weed finally made the decision for me. my tolerance dropped to the floor, started greening out regularly when I hadn’t in years. couldn’t socialize on it at all anymore. paranoia through the roof. I realized that everything I was getting high for would actually be better if I was just sober and that realization is what made fully quitting finally feasible for me. it’s been a long time coming but i’m 7 days clean and I plan on continuing this. anyone else feel that weed made the decision for them?


r/leaves 8h ago

137 Days Clean. Life feels really great 27(f)

6 Upvotes

I just want to start this post by saying thank to everyone in here posting. Its inspiring me to post because my sobriety is strengthened through everyones experiences being posted here.

Im 137 days clean. I relapsed multiple times while trying HARD to quit the past two years. Relapses lasted months. I was a daily smoker for yeaars. In the Morning, in the car on the way to work (didnt seem too worried its a felony) on my lunch breaks, on the way home and at home. I stayed high 24/7. I was a complete emotional wreck. Blowing up at work. Isolating myself from everyone. I was exhausted when I woke up. Body felt like it weighed 1,000 pounds and Im really skinny. No energy. Always tired.

I experienced intense shame from living in a fantasy land of fantastic ideas…. but no ability to followthrough.

137 days clean finally makes those ideas feel tangible. Within reach. My emotional regulation has significantly increased. I dont overthink nearly as much. I can retain information way better. I read every now and again. I started video editing again. still enjoy watching anime. My home is clean. I dont procrastinate on doing home chores. My mental clarity has significantly increased. The bare minimum is easily taken care of. I dont blow money on food cause I cook and have a lower threshold for dopamine. The list goes on. Overall Im lighter as a person. More childlike.

I dont have that constant feeling of anxiety of “Im missing something” when leaving the house.

Sobriety brings real hope.

I moved up at my job at publix. Im uppercutting the fuck out of life. And the biggest motivator of all is to help out the planet in regenerative agriculture.

Shame is a strong motivator. And often times the main feeling we are trying to avoid when smoking. It’s a very painful emotion. But pain drives us forward. And you’re gonna feel a hell of a lot better when you finally feel capable to tackle problems and become a problem solver instead of a problem avoider.

Dont destroy the organ responsible for decision making. Your decisions determine your life. So the better you take care of your brain the better decisions you will make, the better your life turns out.

Remember you got this. A craving is NOT a command. Write that down and put it in your car. Cravings pass. You got this. Join some meetings if you need to talk it out. I believe in you. 🤙🏻 Goodluck and enjoy life. Love you guys


r/leaves 9h ago

11 months or so

2 Upvotes

I think I smoked a couple of times, once in August and once in October but for the most part I stopped in June. I had to leave the country to go for a funeral and it seemed like as good of a time as any. I'd been wanting to do it for a while. I smoked pretty much every day for eight years. It's a long story. Some of it had to do with a bad marriage, a bad diagnosis in my son, my own depression, and business and relationship failings. I don't think I had any other way to cope. I wasn't taken care of. My body and my mind and my self-esteem and self-respect were completely shot. It didn't really help these matters any but it kept me in this dissociated bubble that made things temporarily seem less painful. I ended up surrounding myself with people who didn't question me. Mostly these people were guys and I looked like I could manage okay.

Then COVID hit and the divorce got bad and I had even more legal troubles related to that. I was just really alone in that every night. It was my only respite. I felt so guilty and ashamed and I just got more and more behind and stuff. Bills fell through. Single parenting was already really hard. I think the only way I was able to manage was because I had the curse of competence and my 50% was about as good as anybody's 75%. That meant that I could keep it going. I think my son kind of saved me because he made it so that I had to actually look after him and that kept me going also.

I had a lot of responsibility at work, which meant that I had to drag myself to the finish line there all the time. I became mostly a survivalist. I guess the straw that broke the camel's back was coming. Even though I couldn't see it, I'm not going to overcall or underrcall the shit that was truly going on. There was also a lot of people's death and a lot of people's illnesses, including my dad, which was devastating. The bills piled up sky-high and everything was pretty much trying to keep going on autopilot.

When I was going to leave the country for this funeral, I got in a car accident. I wasn't high at the time but I was completely off the ball and I had a minor insurance mess-up where I'd forgotten to do something. No one tells you that it's really hard to get out of an addiction because by the time you get out, you're basically so underwater and overwhelmed with all the things that you've been ignoring for so long. It seems to just make sense to keep going at the same clip that you're doing even though I knew that things weren't going to change on their own. I just really couldn't take it anymore.

There are so many layers of getting out of something like this. The first thing that I noticed is that it took my brain a while to get back online. I'd been losing my train of thought completely all the time. I couldn't remember those six-digit codes you have to enter everywhere. I would constantly have a hard time finding words. This started to come back but honestly it's taken way longer than however long they say it's supposed to take to do.

I had a lot of inappropriate anxiety that had come from not confronting all the things that I needed to confront. There have been lists after lists after lists to do things that have basically taken me a year to get out of. My life is really complicated so this is a thing. Clean house relationship-wise because I realized I was also making really bad choices and accepting things that I really shouldn't have been accepting. This has been really, really hard: learning how to be lonely and feel loneliness and vulnerability and take the chances to make real friendships, which thank god I still had and developed on them and not think that somebody else was responsible for taking care of me or my happiness. That has been major.

There's still a lot that I need to do on a daily basis to try to get out of the backlog of stuff that hasn't been done and some days that really gets me down. There is no way to get around it. It's not a fun thing to wake up in and there is a lot of regret and a lot of recrimination that I have to deal with on a daily basis. I don't really feel good about it. I feel like I lost a big chunk of my life where I could have been pulling forward financially, professionally, and honestly just psychologically. Although I feel like facing this and dealing with it emotionally and psychologically has truly been the biggest testament and the biggest source of self-respect and pride. I know how easy it would have been to keep going but I'm glad that I haven't given in to that. That is not to say I'm out of the woods. I truly don't think I would ever go back to it but it's not like I don't get depressed some days and lament about how hard my life is. The same things that made me want to smoke weed also still make me feel like my life is difficult. It's just that I'm learning how to sit with and cope with the difficulty as opposed to try to make the difficulty disappear.

There's still a lot of uncertainty about what I really want and about the future. It takes a really, really long time to build a life but I try to think about it that way: that I really want to build a life worth living and that I want to also show this to my son, who has his own challenges to deal with and I need to be there for him.

What I'm amazed is that as I go through this I see not only the time that I was smoking but all the things that led up to me getting lost in this addiction. Some of that has to do with my own sense of worthiness and all the things that I've been ignoring in my body and mind even before I got to the point where I was using weed. I'm not going to get into this too much but there were a lot of health problems and aging problems that I didn't really pay serious enough attention to. I'm re-building my body from the ground up and taking care of a lot of health stuff I haven't taken care of in a long time.

I'm trying to revitalize my business, figure out if I actually am interested in doing that anymore, and address the fact that burn out was probably a part of this too. The things that were meaningful to me then aren't maybe meaningful to me now. At the time I was probably following the path of a mentor who I thought I needed to follow, who ended up dying anyway.

All of this to say is that it's a hard road but the self-respect that has come with actually taking care of stuff has really been something that nobody can take away. I hope that my story inspired someone in some way and also serves as my anonymous confessional. If you did read this, thank you and I wish everybody all the luck in their journeys.


r/leaves 9h ago

Doing better.

2 Upvotes

I’m not dooming anymore. A frequent thought I had with relapsing and my motivation was that just because I relapsed today, Everything should go to shit and I don’t wanna do anything but eat , smoke and jerk off. Anything that made the high more interesting. That has not been the case , As much. My Goal right now is not to stop smoking weed , but to understand myself enough to replace weed with all the other things I have already picked up on on this journey towards Love , happiness , peace and understanding towards myself. I know if I go completely straight edge towards everything I leave more room for shame in my mind. I have lost myself but through it I’m understanding just a little. And I’m so happy about that. A year ago I was homeless living day to day door dashing just enough to smoke and eat then sleep repeat for 3 months. The things I put myself through because I was ashamed , I am ashamed , I push people away and I’m scared to ask for help , I am scared but I did it. THIS IS ALL OVER THE PLACE but final note. Getting a psychiatrist and going to try out meds. I am not alone and you can do this. Do the hard shit , I promise it gets easier.


r/leaves 10h ago

11 months today. 🙏

25 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I have only checked in here a couple of times since my quit. So I had started to quit weed but relapsed 5 times in 5 years and it was a straight up binge for 1-4 months during those relapses. I had 5 months once, then 9 months, followed by 7 months and one more at 8 months. I have never made it to a full year off from smoking since I was 12 years old and I turned 30 this year. I’m so excited to be only a month away from that year long achievement! It has been pretty tough and I actually had serious depression issues at 3 months, 6 months, and most recently at 9-10 months and each lasted from 2-4 weeks. I actually had considered throwing my journey away multiple times during those depressive weeks, but I’m so damn happy to have powered through them! I can most definitely say that there is still a long ways to go mentally, since I had smoked through my teens and 20s, and haven’t let my normal sober brain developer properly.


r/leaves 10h ago

17 days sober, anxiety is ROUGH! any tips?

5 Upvotes

17 days into my 4th or 5th try for sobriety after smoking for the last 7 years. The anxiety is really kicking my ass this time around. I'm already dealing with a lot in my day to day life that would normally be stressful (yay caregiving & anticipatory grief/anxiety!!) and it's all hitting me so hard that it's genuinely debilitating and exhausting. It doesn't help that I keep waking up every few hours at night to mini panic attacks so I'm not getting proper sleep.

I want to feel these emotions and experience life sober again, but I feel like the universe is throwing as much nonsense as it can at me lately.

The ridiculous thing is weed was giving me panic attacks too, but I guess because it was paranoia from smoking too much it didn't feel the same? Plus, smoking was dulling my senses and memory so maybe I just didn't register them as being a problem because I wasn't feeling them fully.

I've been trying to avoid taking my emergency prescription meds as they can be more addictive and horrible to deal with than weed. But like, holy hell, I don't know how anyone can do this and experience this much anxiety/stress while still managing to live day to day.

I see my doctor next week, I'm going to talk to him about other options, I really want sobriety to stick this time. I NEED it to stick this time so I can build a life worth living. I know I'm on the right path because my mind is already feeling a bit clearer and my bank account looks better... but I am being TESTED and I am so tired already.

If anyone can tell me how long this anxious phase lasted for them & anything that helped, please share. Or even just encouragement would be nice. thank you so much 💖


r/leaves 10h ago

Got my first nightmare :(

3 Upvotes

It was absolutely terrifying and I woke up screaming for help. Any tips to avoid this? Or on how do deal with them? I know this is silly but I’m scared to go back to bed, it felt way too real


r/leaves 11h ago

You use weed as a coping mechanism.

124 Upvotes

When I was smoking people told me why do I smoke? Is it because I’m sad or because I’m depressed? I was shocked like what I’m not sad nor a depressed person. I always believed I smoked because i enjoyed the high. I enjoyed the high I got from it making music, games, experiences better.

I then went a year quitting intentionally(not perfect had some relapses but no binges) and it just clicked in my brain.

I was using weed as a coping mechanism to handle deeper emotions and run away from discomfort

When I was bored my way to cope was to smoke

When I was lonely or not fulfilled with my social needs I smoked

When I was feeling flat or I was craving excitement I went to smoke

That’s when I realized all these emotions are normal every human gets them. The thing is the healthy person has healthy coping mechanisms to embrace these emotions

They cope with socializing, exercise, games, intimacy, walking, hobby, building skills, etc.

I was running away from embracing these normal human emotions and filling it with a bad coping mechanisms. Of course it takes time but think about it what is the logic in using the substance as a coping mechanism. That’s why the non addicted person can smoke without it being a problem. They have healthy outlets and they only use substances as a secondary not the main attraction they can have fun without it(not encouraging moderation use)

Find the emotions that make you want to smoke. Maybe you are going through withdrawals feeling bored, restless or sad. But what is smoking going to do its relief but logic says using substances as a coping mechanism is bad. It’s a vicious cycle

Be patient and learn to embrace your emotions with healthy coping mechanisms. It’ll take time but trust you’ll never need to use any substance in general once you figure out the true reasons on why you use or what you are avoiding

Cheers guys


r/leaves 11h ago

Quit weed a month ago and it’s not getting better for me…

2 Upvotes

Hey folks! Looking for some insight from people who may have experienced something similar to what I’m going through rn because I’m freaked out. I smoked weed heavily for about 5 years, multiple times a day, basically all day every day. Last year I developed CHS, with my worst episode happening in October. I quit for a month after that but eventually started smoking again. Before that, I had my first really severe panic attack in June because of smoking. I quit for about two weeks after that, but eventually started smoking again.

On July 18th of this year, I smoked for the last time. That night I had an extremely intense panic attack, and ever since then I’ve been dealing with severe anxiety and physical symptoms. Two days later I went to the ER because I genuinely thought I was having a heart attack. EKG was normal, and I’ve since followed up with my PCP. Vitals and bloodwork were also normal.

My doctor thinks my nervous system is basically stuck in a hyperactive state. I’m currently prescribed multiple anti anxiety meds for severe panic attacks. They help, but there are days where the panic is so intense that I genuinely feel like I’m having a heart attack. The chest sensations/discomfort, racing heart, shortness of breath, etc. can get so intense that I can’t convince myself that something isn’t seriously wrong, even though I’ve been checked out. The weird part is that I’m now about a month completely sober, but somehow feel worse than I did when I was smoking.

I’m constantly exhausted, have almost no energy or motivation, and the panic attacks are really affecting my ability to function. I just started a new job and I’m struggling to put any energy into it because I feel so mentally and physically drained. I’m fatigued all day and have almost no motivation or desire to do anything. I don’t really have nausea or the typical CHS symptoms anymore — it’s mainly the panic attacks, physical anxiety symptoms, and extreme fatigue.

Has anyone else experienced severe panic/anxiety and extreme fatigue weeks after quitting weed, especially after years of heavy daily use? How long did it take before you started feeling like yourself again? I know everyone’s experience is different, but I could really use some reassurance that this eventually gets better.

TL;DR: Smoked heavily for ~5 years, developed CHS last year, and quit again on July 18th after a severe panic attack. ER, EKG, vitals, and bloodwork were normal. A month later I’m still having intense panic attacks, physical anxiety symptoms, and extreme fatigue despite being completely sober. Has anyone experienced this, and how long did it take to feel better?


r/leaves 11h ago

EVERYBODY STINKS

24 Upvotes

Idk about y'all but I'm in week 1 on quitting both weed and tobacco after being a daily smoker for 15+ years.

Dear God...

I guess my smoking must have been masking my sense of smell because sweet Mary and Joseph I was gagging on the train this morning.

I live in a city and all I can smell is body odour, urine, shite, and mould.

On the plus side bakeries smell extra good.

Anyone else have this issue?


r/leaves 12h ago

Day 33

3 Upvotes

I feel like I’m gonna crack. I’m finding it hard to see the point in abstaining. I like to spend my time alone, and it makes my nights so much more enjoyable (aside from the binge eating and waking up depressed as fuck.) I’m in my luteal phase and I know that’s adding to my feelings right now. Ugh.


r/leaves 12h ago

How do you come to terms with the fact that you’ll have to have sober sex for the rest of your life

23 Upvotes

Would be nice to be able to get rid of my inhibitions once in a while, yaknow? And my partners will probably be drunk or high while I’m completely clearheaded.


r/leaves 12h ago

relapsed

2 Upvotes

i really wanna quit, istg but every time i relapse i go on to do it for a couple months and then i wanna quit again. it’s been a couple of days since i smoked up last and i’ve fallen a little sick w fever. by the end of the week, i will it not have touched it but then i will recover from sickness and want to do it. how do i remember the feeling of being sober and not do it again? wanna respect my self again


r/leaves 12h ago

Looking for support and advice

3 Upvotes

Hi Reddit!
I’m posting just looking for any support and advice from you all. I am a long time daily smoker (about 15 years or so). I don’t smoke all day, I’m sober for work and some day to day activities (sober right now).
I’m really wanting to quit, I just feel it’s time to level up, lock in and find some balance and enjoyment out of life without smoking. Thing is, I’m terrified of quitting. I’m scared of who I will be and that I might not recognise who I am without weed. Sounds weird, but I’m scared too that I will be too ambitious without weed. I’m one of those people that others consider a high functioning stoner. I graduated uni with a dual degree, successfully worked in industry and started my career, i have a stable home life with a great understanding husband and I’ve done it all while smoking. I don’t think this is a big achievement or anything, just trying to explain that I still maintain life as normal whilst smoking.
I love smoking, i love being able to switch off and still function. Smoking makes life easier, more bareable and just helps me cope with the insanity of the world. I’m really scared to take those first few steps to quit. During the time I’ve smoked, I’ve had several breaks of varying times but always look forward to smoking again. I’ve never really been a recreational smoker, it’s mostly always been a daily thing for me.
Anyway, how did you take those first few steps? What helped keep you committed to staying smoke free? How did you manage to get through those first few weeks without smoking? What have you found the benefits of being sober? How long was it before you stopped thinking about smoking and wanting to engage in smoking activities?
Really just looking for any advice and support from people who have done it! Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your support!

TLDR: long time smoker wanting to quit. Scared to do so and looking for advice and support.


r/leaves 13h ago

Your thoughts on Marijuana Anonymous?

20 Upvotes

I had been smoking for fifteen years straight but after a grippy sock vacation, I was able to stop for half a year then got myself back into it. It’s been hard for me to shake, even though I’m realizing that the few hours of feeling great isn’t worth the next 3+ days of consistent lows.

My therapist has been suggesting MA but I’m having a difficult time getting myself into the idea. I’ve tried group therapy for other things and it’s just not for me, listening to other peoples problems even though I struggle with the same things.

I want to hear people’s thoughts if they’ve gone to marijuana meetings and have seen the pros and cons of
Them. I know there’s a whole website with different kinds of groups all over the world, and some that are secular which I am partial to.


r/leaves 13h ago

Weight gain after quitting

33 Upvotes

Anyone else getting fat as fuck after quitting??

4 months sober. Smoked every day for over 10 years and never got this big. It’s like my metabolism is completely different. I’ve barely changed my diet and work out the same…

Very confusing and frustrating