Friday, October 24, 2008

How to Quit Smoking Marijuana - The Reason Behind the Need

How to quit smoking marijuana is not an easy question to answer with a list of pointers and handy hints (though I have written enough of those as well) because the reasons people become addicted to marijuana is a mixed bag of problems in their life that creates a need to escape, zone out or even be more social if they have a group of friends that smoke. In the end smoking weed is about getting high to get away from something and when we become addicted to that high and you feel you NEED it then I becomes easy to blame the drug itself not the REASON you started smoking pot in the first place.

This article I named 'the reason behind the need' because I just wanted to focus on just one aspect of marijuana addiction which is the immediate reason you feel the urge and need to smoke. Many people call these cravings for pot much like a cigarette smoker craves lighting up but the difference is that nicotine creates a very strong physical craving that is also fueled by a psychological need born of a reason that you may or may not know or understand. To find, understand and explore this reason is a powerful first start in coming to terms with why you find it hard to stop smoking weed and can lay the foundation of a strong motivational drive to quit marijuana for good.

The reasons to smoke as I mentioned can be many and varied:

  • Abuse
  • Depression
  • Violence
  • Stress
  • Boredom
  • Lack of direction in life
  • and more ...
Some reasons may be worse than others but they all do the same thing; send you looking for an escape. This escape inevitably becomes a habit and a coping mechanism for these reasons behind your need to smoke pot and often that need or urge you may get is TRIGGERED by a flare up of one of these problems.

This may not be a surprise to many who know these problems in intimate detail and know they smoke pot to get away from some harsh part of their reality but the frequent problem that occurs in this instance is they blame the weed for making matters even worse (which it often can) and think that they need to quit smoking weed and this will solve their problems too!

In the end knowing these problems, reasons and triggers for your need and urges to use pot will not tell you how to quit smoking marijuana but they can help you understand and plan ahead. If you know what will drive you back to smoking pot you can be prepared for it and if you can somehow overcome or alleviate those reasons you will also overcome or alleviate your addiction to marijuana.

For more information on how to quit smoking weed to stop living your life in a haze, visit: http://www.kick-addiction.com

Friday, October 10, 2008

How to Give Up Smoking Marijuana

Marijuana, pot, weed, cannabis, ganja, mary-jane and probably a score or more names can be applied to this particular drug which has a long, checkered history all over the world. The politics of this drug also has had a checkered history and has often distorted how it is viewed as people of bias in the pro-marijuana and anti-marijuana camps tend to take only the bits they want to promote their own point of view.

To be free of this bias this lens is not PRO or ANTI Cannabis, it is simply anti-addiction which has less to do with the drug itself as it does have to do with the psychology of addiction.

Marijuana Addiction

To be addicted to marijuana is not an uncommon thing but the reasons for this addiction can confuse some people. The negative image of marijuana as a drug that causes harm and is associated with harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine have implied that it is as addictive as these drugs or even cigarettes whose addictive effects are now widely known.

The truth is that smoking pot is not addictive like cigarettes or cocaine or methanphedamines because the chemicals in cannabis do not leave the same physically addicting affects. There are some mild effects of withdrawal from marijuana but they are nothing like the hell that people go through trying to give up heroin. Instead marijuana addiction is much more like other psychological addictions such as gambling and alcohol addictions which stem from a want of a certain high be it the thrill of winning, the loss of inhibition and control of alcohol or the mellow high that most people experience with weed. This want can be strong it feels like a need and is the basis for being classified as an addiction, the user feels like they cannot live without it.

Causes

The causes and reasons for cannabis addiction are many and varied but a common thread is that people smoke to escape from something in their own lives, an issue or problem they cannot solve so it is easy to zone out than suffer. This can range from abuse, stress and even just boredom and lack of motivation; the reason is always there lurking and driving you back to smoking marijuana because without this driving force you would be able to quit much easier.

The first part of giving up smoking marijuana is nailing down these reasons for your addiction and being brutally honest with yourself about your habit and addiction without trying to lay the blame anywhere else.

I will repeat this ... You must be brutally honest with yourself and take responsibility for your own actions!

Only then will you be able to start on the path to kicking your addiction.

How To Give Up Smoking Marijuana

Ok, time to test if you can give up pot! Here are a few things you can do RIGHT NOW to help you overcome your addiction.


  • Throw away all your stash. I am serious, you cannot think you can give up weed if you have marijuana there tempting you. So forget keeping some "just in case", just in case what? Forget keeping some to reward yourself for staying off for so long that does not work! It is just an opportunity for a relapse!

  • Start exercising more, one of the side effects of pot is often low motivation and lethargy which can be countered with exercise. Exercising can also give you a natural high from the endorphins that are released in your body that make you feel great. Not only this but it will help with your health and respiratory system that may have been given a rough time from all that smoke inhalation.

  • Start thinking positively. This may sound like that stuff from the secret but there is no magic involved just human psychology, if you think and act with positive intent you will train your brain to stay positive and it gets positive results from people around you too. So instead of saying "I have given up smoking marijuana" say "I chose to live a healthier happier live without drugs!" a small shift can make a massive difference!

  • This is the most important one ... you must find a reason to give up smoking marijuana that is greater than your desire to smoke. It could be anything, your family, your friends, your career, your health, everyone's reasons to quit are different but they must be strong motivators because motivation is the key to overcoming addiction. Along the way you will stumble sometimes, it will be hard, you will CRAVE again and again so this motivation has to be there shining brighter than your reasons to smoke pot.

If you want to give up pot forever and understand that help and support are essential to your success click below to discover the solution thousands of others have used to overcome their addiction once and for all!

http://www.kick-addiction.com/Quit-Marijuana.html

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

How To Give Up Smoking Weed, give up smoking weed, give up weed

Giving up weed can be a tough journey for many and the pitfalls and woes that you hit along the way often turn you from your goal of being weed free and plunge you back into wasting time and money on your old habit. How to give up smoking weed comes down to having a plan and the willpower to stick to it but this is easy to say and harder to do so here are a few ideas to help you make and keep to a plan using small goals as milestones and motivators.

Firstly there is a difference between a goal and a motivator, achieving a goal is motivating but a motivator is a long term goal, perhaps an ongoing thing that cannot simply be reached but only improved. Having a strong motivator is essential to quit smoking pot because the urge to smoke can be very strong and when you are tempted and the little angel and devil on your shoulder start to argue you have to give the angel some serious firepower! Some examples of motivators I have seen people use to great success include:

  • "I need to give up smoking weed so I can be a better parent."
  • "I need to give up weed so I can stop wasting my life and get a steady job."
  • "I need to give up smoking pot because I want a better relationship with my partner and she does not like it"
  • "I need to give up pot so that I stop ruining my health and memory."

Everyone has a different motivator that is close to your heart and so strong is the urge to succeed at this is will be a powerful weapon against the urges to smoke. Find this and then write it down, keep it in your pocket, put it on a banner on your wall anything you can do to re-enforce that message over and over again!

Once you have this clear in your mind you can start with a plan, set small goals and do them ... do not look at the big picture yet except for your motivator just set small goals every day. For example:
  • Day One
    • 1. Throw out my stash
    • 2. Sign up for the gym
    • 3. Cook and eat a healthy meal

  • Day Two
    • 1. Remind myself of all the good things I will get from not smoking weed
    • 2. Call some friends I have not seen in a while because of my habit

  • Day Three ... etc

If you want to stop smoking marijuana forever and find this advice useful then click below to discover more information you can use straight away to help you be drug free in weeks!

http://www.kick-addiction.com/Quit-Marijuana.html