Friends of mine smoke regularly have basically the opposite experience. It really appears to me that weed affects people in really different ways, so it’s hard to make a general statement.
I will tell you what I would tell my own child:
Cannabis, like any recreational drug, steals the most precious resource we have: our time. I've been on benders in my life that I simply can not remember what I did during that period, sure, but that's not what I'm talking about.
What I am talking about is the time any person needs to become a well adjusted, functioning adult. When you are taking a recreational drug, you are not dealing with life, you are on a 'get away'.
Life is the best teacher and recreational drugs are how you forfeit that precious, amazing, education.
You don't have to go far to see this in action. Think of someone who is a habitual drug user and ask yourself 'are they emotionally mature?'. They aren't. They are taking an escape. Recreational drugs are antithetical to emotional growth.
This type of behavior is ESPECIALLY harmful if you are taking recreational drugs early in life. It simply puts you behind.
I wasted 20 years of my life 'partying' even on a casual basis. Time slips away and being high puts time on a damn bullet train.
I heard recently that the fastest way for an addict to relapse is a windfall of money. Money doesn't help them get out of their situation because money is hard to manage, particularly if you are emotionally immature.
tl/dr: Recreational drugs make you immature which will prevent you from going very far in life.
I'm going to save this and say something similar in the future when I have kids.
Put a "may" before "make" and a replace "will" with "may", and you have a truthful statement. However, as it stands, it's simply false. Some of us "well adjusted, functioning adults" just use drugs safely and responsibly, because it can make life just a bit more interesting.
Granted alcohol and weed hinder self discipline but don’t blame the substances for your actions. Have you ever done a long run or bike ride and had a beer or two at the end? It is pure joy!
I am more motivated to eat healthier, exercise, and so on when I smoke regularly. I spent most of my 20's sober and the opposite in my 30's and overall, my experience in my 30's was much better. I remember about as much either way - at least in the long term. I also learned a second language while mostly stoned.
Overall, I'm much more motivated.
And I'll state that overall, my life is full of wasted time. I don't have children nor much responsibility, really, and I'm over 40. I'm happy, though, and that isn't just the beer talking.
Edit: I can go either with or without and have taken semi-regular breaks from time to time. I'm mostly at weekends now, but that's mostly to save money rather than life stuff.
I've had multiple psychosis's due to cannabis as I am sensitive to it (possibly related to autism). Therefore, what I will say to my kid (same genepool) is be very careful with alcohol, cannabis, and other drugs. Please, don't.
Still, I had plenty of time to reflect and mature while not really getting very high due to very high tolerance, although I also had anxiety problems almost like psychosis. Still managed to get out, sort of interview although probably much worse than sober, and barely work on some code. Eh, been a few weeks now and I still barely code. Only did what was required for school after burning out, before becoming addicted.
Almost got CHS after dabbing plenty of CBD (which can also cause CHS, although rare) as well as hash oil. Thankfully I only puked until my stomach was empty, didn't last long and wasn't painful, but I had most of the pre-CHS symptoms. Sometimes I think I could just do a tiny amount as a reward here and there... that it wasn't that hard to quit... maybe I'm fooling myself.
The only real thing I've kept on the table is foster children or adopting an older child. I did keep an open mind about dating men with children back when I was dating.
Wish I was more self aware or had family to help support me in my younger years in seeking help. It's hard not to beat yourself up in hindsight when things seem so crystal clear now when you have traded all your vices for positive routines. In my case it took falling in love with the right person who had their shit together personally and professionally to pull me from the grips of substance abuse hell and my self destructive risk taking and addictive personality.
Mediation and mindfulness was key in my recovery as a dependable tool to shut my brain impulsivity down and regain control over the negative neural pathways I've reinforced for years abusing substances. Don't knock it until you try it and see it through until you can start to think clearly without craving your vices and giving into them. Push back hard and you'll be rewarded with clarity and control over your life to set up positive routines. Good luck.
Everything 'steals time'... watching TV, reading books, listening to music, working a job, etc.
> Life is the best teacher and recreational drugs are how you forfeit that precious, amazing, education.
Not at all. It really depends on which drugs, how you use them, etc.
> You don't have to go far to see this in action. Think of someone who is a habitual drug user and ask yourself 'are they emotionally mature?'. They aren't. They are taking an escape. Recreational drugs are antithetical to emotional growth.
I've met plenty of people who regularly use recreational drugs and who seemed wise, calm and content.
> I wasted 20 years of my life 'partying' even on a casual basis.
Cannabis is not really a party drug.
There are vast differences between various 'recreational drugs'. It's how you use them that matters.
Of course this is the fun of them. But also the downside.
I've not known a single long-term user of cannabis to be a happy, healthy adult. Quite the opposite. I think the dangers of cannabis are quite understated and the current trend toward mass-legislation concerns me. It should be noted that I live in England, where we are renown for having stronger strains... This perhaps affects my outlook.
I was “lucky” in the sense that cannabis began having very negative effects on my mind so quitting was fairly easy. I know from other friends it’s not always like that so I wish you all the luck in your attempts to quit or cut down on your consumption.
I sit on a chair and try to keep good posture so falling asleep has never been anything I’ve worries about.
I began with five min and worked my way up to 15. Now I have an iOS shortcut “hey Siri, start meditation” which sets a timer randomly between 15 and 20 min to counteract the body clock expectation of a fixed duration.