I mentioned how I've been having a lot of trouble with motivation recently, and my therapist asked me to remain sober (I had not used cannabis in two weeks at the time of the appointment).

Not sure how I feel about sobriety. Will only be my third weekend, and first long weekend, without cannabis.

Motivation/energy has picked up a little, but sort of feeling down the past couple of days.

Anyway just posting here to get people's thoughts.

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halfway_prince wrote on May 28, 2021 at 10:02 PM

From my experience, sobriety can be a motivating or self-destructive depending on how you approach it. I smoke weed in small amounts but consistently and often times I'll take sobriety breaks as a way of letting myself know it's not consuming/controlling me too much. In my opinion, it can be very empowering to know that you have control over physical needs/desires, but it's not helpful to feel sadness/shame/demotivated over recreational drug use.

I always make sure to be forgiving of myself if I don't meet the 3 day or 3 week goal I was intending, because life is complicated and happiness/calm is sometimes sparse.

I would argue there's not really a clear answer about whether you should be 100% sober, cut back, or just keep doing your thing. Take some time to reflect on how it plays into your life, when it feels comfortable and important, and when it feels like it's getting in the way of other experiences/motivations.

From an anarchist approach, I would say we should strive for complete freedom to do or not do recreational drugs as we please. Showing myself that I can choose not to smoke feels somewhat similar to showing myself I can still break laws if I please. It may be difficult, but fighting back against any form of oppression is valuable to me. Remind yourself that you're free in any way that you can :)

NoPotatoes OP wrote on May 29, 2021 at 12:02 AM (edited on May 29, 2021 at 12:03 AM)

I'm certainly free to stop seeing the therapist and even lie about my usage.

But I am not sure if that is the best approach for me right now.

In the past I have taken breaks on the order of several months. And I have probably had more sober days than not in the past year.

groovygardener42069 wrote on May 30, 2021 at 1:21 AM

Could be good advice, could be a lazy therapist. I've taken extended breaks and decided that I just like weed. And honestly the only problems it brings to my life are due to the black market

Ymmv tho

NoPotatoes OP wrote on July 4, 2021 at 6:34 PM

Update on this: I cut back my cannabis consumption significantly, but I am still sort of giving up on the therapist. Talking to them has not yielded good results. I just cannot seem to connect with the therapist.

heathterry wrote on November 8, 2022 at 11:16 AM (edited on November 8, 2022 at 11:18 AM)

If you often use marijuana, you may have motivation problems because your whole condition depends on your hormonal system and prognosis. If you often smoke cannabis, then all your processes in the body slow down, and accordingly, you want to live or do something less. However, if you smoke cannabis every few weeks, there are no such problems. On the contrary, you relax your nervous system and give it a discharge; the whole point is how often you use cannabis. For example, I can afford to go to one of the best dispensaries in Burlington from https://thespotcannabis.com/ and buy marijuana and smoke it, but this may happen once a month.