Asklemmy

Porn and weed.

I've no doubt there are people that can use it moderately, but my brain just keeps wanting more. I quit cigarettes with no issues. I went from drinking a 6-pack a night to barely drinking at all. But those two really are hard to escape. Every time I kick weed I always have a night where I'm relaxing and I go and get a preroll - then end up getting more and smoking for the next few days before I realize what I'm doing. Same thing with porn. I can smoke a hell of a lot of porn.

But seriously, it's hard to quit. And I think that part of the reason is due to my inability to label either of those things as "real addictions" in my head. Neither of those things are demonstrably decreasing my quality of life, at least not the way cigarettes and alcohol did, so I'm having trouble contextualizing them as harmful. Porn is easier for me in that regard, since it definitely subconsciously affects my views on the human body, and noticing that more is helping me shake the habit.

For the record, I do think weed is a lot less harmful than booze. But there's a right way and a wrong way to use it, and I've been using it the wrong way for so long that I don't think I can use it the right way.

To quote one of the great philosophers of our times:

"Well, Stan, the truth is marijuana probably isn't gonna make you kill people, and it most likely isn't gonna fund terrorism, but, well son, pot makes you feel fine with being bored, and it's when you're bored that you should be learning some new skill or discovering some new science or being creative. If you smoke pot you may grow up to find out that you aren't good at anything."

Now, I don't necessarily think all of that is true. Plenty of people are creative and innovative and also smoke pot, but it does make you content with doing nothing. Very relaxing in the moment, until you realize, after a few years of daily smoking, that all your friends have been learning new things and growing and you've been sitting on the couch watching TV the whole time. It's totally fine to use every now and then, and by no means should be illegal, but we do need to start being realistic about how daily cannabis use quells that burning desire to be active and improve ourselves.