Howdy,

Today marks one year since I decided to quit smoking marijuana.

No other year in my life has been as rewarding as this one, so I want to share with you four lessons I learned from my first year off marijuana.

Lesson 1: Getting High Fixes Nothing

• Getting high doesn't fix my social anxiety, trouble sleeping, or financial worries.
• Getting high helps me avoid feeling the emotion that is at the root of my social anxiety, trouble sleeping, and financial worries.

Lesson 2: Drugs Are Not My Addiction

• Drugs help me escape my present reality.
• I am not addicted to drugs.
• I am addicted to escaping my present reality.

Lesson 3: My Addiction Serves A Purpose

• My addiction is not a problem.
• My addiction is a solution to feelings that, if consciously experienced, would create unsolvable problems (h/t Gabor Maté).

Lesson 4: Drugs Don't Increase Creativity

• Contrary to popular belief (i.e. Joe Rogan) drugs don't increase my creativity.
• Drugs lower my inhibitions.
• Lowered inhibitions increase my creativity and can exist without drugs.

If you'd like to read more about how marijuana is a drug of avoidance, I wrote this piece about it.

Thank you for allowing me to share my journey with you. There are many exciting updates coming your way soon!

Until then,

Nick

(12/2) Writing Prompt: Whether or not it's marijuana, identify one of your addictions and write 250 words about what purpose it serves in your life today and what purpose it served in your life when you first developed the habit/addiction/behavior.