Anxiety and Cannabis Abuse

[Catkins]

You're doing really well.

[Ronantian]

Thanks Catkins

[SurfingWaves]

Smoking weed is so triggering for anxiety it's shocking. Over the last 2 years I have smoked less and less because of this. It's a lottery as to how it will make you feel. I speak to friends about this and everyone agrees it causes anxiety. I always tried to push past the anxiety to get to a nice happy stage of the high but over time it accumulated to constant anxiety whether I smoked it or not.

If you are serious about addressing your anxiety, forget stopping coffee and all the other things like diet and exercise until you have conquered number one on the list, your cannabis habit. You've seen for yourself just how much it affects your anxiety. It plays a massive role and it just isn't worth it. You've had your fun with the stuff. Them good days with weed are gone now. It's time to let it go.

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[Ronantian]

Had been doing really well for the last year, then slipped back into smoking over Christmas. Now I’m back in an anxiety spiral and feel like I only have myself to blame. Feel so stupid for sabotaging my mental health. Off it again now, but just want to get back to the happy person I am when I’m not feeling anxious.

[Darksky]

Don’t beat yourself up. You’re human and any addiction is hard to beat. It doesn’t matter whether it’s weed, drink or cigarettes. The anxiety will lessen as it always does. Never stop trying to quit. Keep a diary…now is the perfect time….log in it how you’re feeling. Spare no thoughts or feelings. Get it all down. It will serve as a constant reminder how bad this stuff eventually makes you feel.

When you feel good and think I’m ok now, maybe it won’t be so bad. A little won’t hurt. Get the diary out and read it, over and over. A reminder of how bad anxiety can get will work wonders. Video yourself on your phone. Talking about how shit you feel. Really let it out. Keep it to rewatch. So, again, when you feel ok and tempted, you can really see you, you suffering the after affects of the weed. Poison the well.

Just some ideas…good luck with it.

[Ronantian]

Thank you for the reply. I know I need to remember how bad this feels. Addiction tricks you, tells you that things will be different this time. Just feeling really pathetic and miserable. Trying not to be hard on myself, but it’s a struggle. I wish I could go back in time to Christmas to remind myself that it always ends in the same way.

[Darksky]

That’s why I suggested having some real evidence in front of you..a warts and all diary..a video where you can talk to your future self.

Anything where you don’t just to have to rely on memory which we all know dims with time.

[ankietyjoe]

slipped back into smoking over Christmas.

How did you slip back into it? What was the series of events that got you there?

It's good to see it as self sabotage and beat yourself up a bit. ​Better doing that than assuming you're a victim and have no control over your choices.

[Ronantian]

I am changing careers this year, and was feeling stress over that. But I think I didn’t want to acknowledge the stress, so said I’d have a little bit over Christmas. A little bit soon turned into a daily habit. I knew I was heading down a bad path, but was terrified that I’d spiral into anxiety if I stopped. I have lots of supportive and understanding people around me, thankfully.

I’m supposed to be starting a new job at the end of this month, but feel I’m now under pressure to feel better before then. I know I just need to get back into a good routine.

[ankietyjoe]

I am changing careers this year, and was feeling stress over that. But I think I didn’t want to acknowledge the stress, so said I’d have a little bit over Christmas. A little bit soon turned into a daily habit. I knew I was heading down a bad path, but was terrified that I’d spiral into anxiety if I stopped. I have lots of supportive and understanding people around me, thankfully.

I’m supposed to be starting a new job at the end of this month, but feel I’m now under pressure to feel better before then. I know I just need to get back into a good routine.

So this is the actual problem. Avoidance of stress or anxiety.

You cannot avoid these things, and will never be able to. Anxiety is as normal as sneezing or farting. It's your relationship with it that's the issue. That is what an anxiety disorder really is, not the anxiety itself, but the reaction to it.

So you start a new job and might feel anxious to begin with. So what? Most people do.

Learn to sit with the anxiety and not fear it. That is the key.

As for the weed, just stop doing it. You know that already.