u/Glittering-Gain3461

I’m coming up on two years quit and have been doing a ton of therapy the last several months and in general confronting a lot of old coping mechanisms. In the absence of them (including weed), it’s been a lot to process. I’ve been in a funk the last week feeling like for all this effort, it might just be easier to enjoy my life as a pothead and continue indulging in poor coping mechanisms. I’m looking for people who have been quit longer than two years who can relate to this period of adjustment and might reassure me that I’ll have grown even more by year 3 and that these are just growing pains after 35 years of trying to escape feeling bad.

Kinda funny things I’ve noticed lately… my capacity for retaining hockey facts (I.e players, standings) and overall conceptualizing the game has vastly improved. Also playing new video games has gotten so much easier. Even compared to a year ago, I’m still seeing gains in this area.

I legit thought for the longest time I just got easily overwhelmed and certain things were too complex for my brain. I was just stoned af my whole life 😂

I don’t have a ton to say, just looking to commiserate with fellow quitters who have embarked on nervous system regulation sans substances and other cheap dopamine thrills. I’m exhausted. Some days it feels like I’ll never rewire my brain, other days I see myself regulating in healthy ways and coping well.

I’m trying very hard to stop framing every bad feeling as something that needs to be escaped. And that regulating strategies are not to make myself “feel good”, that they are neutral and simply ways to help me move through bad feelings.

Very hard! Very annoying! I wish I wasn’t born with higher anxiety than your average person!