Anxiety and Cannabis Abuse

[Ronantian]

Thanks, I know all this, but find it hard to put into practice. I think I need to recognise when I’m looking to avoid stress. I have worked from home for the last 5 years and the prospect of working in an office again is daunting. I’m going to put my worries on the back burner for the next week and focus on getting into a better routine. I’ve been in a better place with anxiety for the past year as I was working with a counsellor and wasn’t running away from problems. I know that I can get back to where I was, I just need to put in the work.

Really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.

[ankietyjoe]

Thanks, I know all this, but find it hard to put into practice. I think I need to recognise when I’m looking to avoid stress. I have worked from home for the last 5 years and the prospect of working in an office again is daunting. I’m going to put my worries on the back burner for the next week and focus on getting into a better routine. I’ve been in a better place with anxiety for the past year as I was working with a counsellor and wasn’t running away from problems. I know that I can get back to where I was, I just need to put in the work.

Really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.

For the record, my first major panic attack 15-16 years ago was after smoking some weed. I'd had a few minor anxiety 'incidents' in the previous couple of years, but always shrugged it off as stress. I kinda got it. I had also smoked weed thousands of times in the past, so no problem right?

Wrong.

You have to look at it like the Jokers trick in the 1989 Batman film. One thing won't fvck you, but a specific combination of just the right ingredients will FVCK you. Weed is one of those things, and if you're prone to anxiety or stress, you're gonna suffer if you smoke it.

I get the returning to work thing, but it's really the anticipation that's causing you issues. Once you're there you'll be fine, whether you have anxiety there or not. The trick is to recognise it happening at sit with it.

One of the things I did to 'beat' the anxiety was to force myself to go to Tesco every day. I hated it, I hated the space, the people, the feeling of being trapped in the aisles furthest from the door etc. Completely irrational fear and panic. So I'd go in with my heart pounding but I'd deliberately walk around as slowly as I could so I wasn't signalling my uncoscious that there WAS actually a problem. Sometimes I'd have to leave mid shop and go sit in the car for 5 minutes, but I would always go back in and finish the shop that I had on my list. Each time I felt the panic I would mentally tell myself this was fine, and I was safe, and that the panic would pass (which it always does). It didn't take that long for the worst of the anxiety to stop kicking in every time I went shopping. And that's really all there is to recovery for plain old anxiety disorder. You need to challenge your own fears and perceptions of what's actually happening.

Also, recognise that some problems you DO need to run away from. Don't become a martyr to facing up to things. If your new job does actually suck (which it won't), don't stay there 'because facing up'. Some stress just needs to be avoided. Just not the normal every day stress.

[Ronantian]

For the record, my first major panic attack 15-16 years ago was after smoking some weed. I'd had a few minor anxiety 'incidents' in the previous couple of years, but always shrugged it off as stress. I kinda got it. I had also smoked weed thousands of times in the past, so no problem right?

Wrong.

You have to look at it like the Jokers trick in the 1989 Batman film. One thing won't fvck you, but a specific combination of just the right ingredients will FVCK you. Weed is one of those things, and if you're prone to anxiety or stress, you're gonna suffer if you smoke it.

I get the returning to work thing, but it's really the anticipation that's causing you issues. Once you're there you'll be fine, whether you have anxiety there or not. The trick is to recognise it happening at sit with it.

One of the things I did to 'beat' the anxiety was to force myself to go to Tesco every day. I hated it, I hated the space, the people, the feeling of being trapped in the aisles furthest from the door etc. Completely irrational fear and panic. So I'd go in with my heart pounding but I'd deliberately walk around as slowly as I could so I wasn't signalling my uncoscious that there WAS actually a problem. Sometimes I'd have to leave mid shop and go sit in the car for 5 minutes, but I would always go back in and finish the shop that I had on my list. Each time I felt the panic I would mentally tell myself this was fine, and I was safe, and that the panic would pass (which it always does). It didn't take that long for the worst of the anxiety to stop kicking in every time I went shopping. And that's really all there is to recovery for plain old anxiety disorder. You need to challenge your own fears and perceptions of what's actually happening.

Also, recognise that some problems you DO need to run away from. Don't become a martyr to facing up to things. If your new job does actually suck (which it won't), don't stay there 'because facing up'. Some stress just needs to be avoided. Just not the normal every day stress.

Thanks. I can see more clearly now that wanting to smoke is an indicator that I’m feeling anxious and trying to avoid the feeling. I now know that I can never go back to smoking weed again because it’s an avoidance habit. The next time I get the urge to smoke I’m going to have to ask myself - what am I anxious about and try to work through it.

I have started to put my helpful strategies back in place. Did a small bit of yoga last night and have been working my way back to doing cold showers. They really helped me in the past, but it’s hard to keep it up because it’s a difficult thing to do. I did three minutes last night and felt proud of myself. I was in a good place for the majority of last year and know I can get back there if I put in the work.