Wasting Time Getting Wasted
One of the biggest enemies of quitting any drug/alcohol addiction is “free time”. I don’t have to be a certified drug counselor or 12-Stepper to know that.
The few months prior to my quitting, my psychologist and I discussed and planned what I would do with all of this free time. What free time you may ask yourself and this is a valid question. Please let me elaborate.
Let me focus in on Pot. It’s my specialty. Go with what you know. Let me break it down for you in case you don’t know. There is the acquisition (buying) of the pot. In California, CO, WA, or OR, this could be as simple as visiting a local Coop. If you are loyal to one or two of them like my friends BB or BT, it’s easy enough. But BB goes every 4 days. Why? Who the fuck knows! BT goes every 3-4 weeks and buys what he needs for that time period. But most people go every week to ten days. Me? I am a former Jew and NPR!!! What is NPR? Never pay retail. I got it from anywhere from FREE to Ounces at the pound price. Sometime it involved long drives from 30-45 minutes each way. Sometimes it involved waiting a few days to a couple of weeks. It depended. When I was getting wax for little to nothing, I stocked up for weeks at a time. It didn’t go stale.
What else you ask? Well, many of us were always ordering or buying devices, pipes, lighters, papers, and all kinds of other crap. My friend JG constantly call me with the latest and greatest wax pipe and would have me watch you tubes and what not. Many times more than not his recommendations were good ones. The conversation always started with, “Dude…” But they cost time and money which he has a lot of both.
Then there was the fixing and cleaning process. This took more time than you might think. Especially Wax pipes which got sticky and clogged. Wax would also stain my clothes and car. It got everywhere, but I digress. Where was I? Oh yah, cleaning and fixing. This was another big time waster.
Then there was the using. JK mainly eats it so that should be quick and easy. Not really. He bakes it and according to my friend who will go initialness, & it was every time they were over. The house and neighborhood smelt like pot and cookies-nice. He had over 100 cookies in his small freezer and was always cooking more! Why? Because he was getting big bags of “shake” which would go bad if it wasn’t processed. And calories? Is the Universe acting up again?
Now it comes to the big part. Waxing and smoking. I would sit outside on my balcony for hours. I would have my iPad and either play pinball or watch Netflix. I would lie in my bed and watch the same shows from the 80’s over and over. Minutes turned into hours.
I am sure my neighbors loved me. The one to the south of me had young kids. Don’t get me wrong, I tried to be cool when they were outside, which was rare. At times, my bong was so loud, it would wake them up and I would crawl, yes crawl, back into my house through the open sliding door. I would be embarrassed. I feel like knocking on their door and apologizing to them now.
So what do I do with all of this newly discovered free time?
Some people go to meetings-12 Step. And yes, I went for the first 4 weeks to some MA meetings and they were helpful. Not because of the 12 Steps or because God would remove my addiction for me or anything like that; but because I heard people who had the same issue talk about their addiction and sobriety. They were as bad as me. They lied to themselves and others. Went to incredible means to get and stay high. They picked the buds pieces out of the carpet. Scrapped resin off of pipes. Dealt drugs to get and stay high. They lied like a rug.
For that reason alone, it’s worth going to a few meetings (and you’ll meet some sober people). But a lot of these people were addicted to 12 Step. And it gets a little cult-like at times. And God Forbid you are finding something outside of the steps to help you. And if you are under medical supervision or have a counselor, they seem almost insulted. I take perscribed bipolar medicine and antidepressants. MA, like Scientology (I need to puke because my Cousin GB is a fucking Scientologist and man is that a shitty harmful cult), they frown on psych drugs, But the 12 Steppers went to medical school and have PHD’s and specialized training so they are entitled to frown; not! They are layman, if you pardon the expression.
So at the same time as going to 12-Step meetings, I was doing Yoga! Between the two, Yoga rocks. In fact, any type of exercise is great. Why? Because is burns energy, releases toxins, and you look and feel better. I like Yoga because it blends mindful meditation and exercise. I highly recommend it. Seriously. It takes up about 10-12 hours a week. It was a great find and even if you don’t like Yoga, meditation is very useful. (footnote: you take a shitload of showers the first 30 days because you feel the toxins leaving your body).
So far I mentioned 12-Step and Yoga. I also started working more (I am self-employed). I wasn’t in such a big rush to get home and get high. I found a hobby, coin collecting. This costed me some money the way I did it-I bought coins. But if you sift through change, you can have just as much fun for very little money. I started playing more guitar. And blogging. You might not believe this, but this shit takes time to write.
I started to hang out at a cigar bar where this is little to no drinking and mine is a lot like Cheers-everyone knows your name. I try not to go more than 2-3 times a month because it is not healthy. But I do go some of the time. I even still go to live music events where 99% of the people are stoned-where everyone forgets your name. It doesn’t bother me. God did not remove my infliction; I DID! So I control me. This is a good thing.
Find something that works for you and do it. You can always change it later-but have a plan before you quit. Quitters always plan, and planners usually quit.
Stoned Sober 