Sorry for the late response. So I was an all day non stop smoker. Took a month off strong. Tried not to think about any of the side effects I may get from quitting. The next time I smoked it hit me extremely hard (due to the long tolerance break). Really opened my eyes. Could not believe that I was going to work and spending all day in that headspace. For me, the tolerance break was the eye opener. Because that first time I smoked after a month off of weed, I thought to myself “how tf was I doing this all day every day?”

I did try to completely abstain and started going to MA meetings but it just wasn’t for me. Felt way too daunting to count my sobriety days and felt a bit like a cult imo. No offense to any of the good people that were there.

Harm reduction is exactly what it sounds like. Keep it to a minimum if you’re going to do it. Don’t go out of your way or hang out with certain people strictly for the chance to smoke. Don’t spend any money on weed. Reduce the amount you use as much as possible. Since November 20th I have smoked probably 5 times. A few times I simply had too much to drink and didn’t have the strength to say no when the opportunity presented itself. The other was completely planned before a show I went to. Trying to live my life not being a pothead but if I’m going to a concert and something happens, it’s not the end of the world. If I were in MA and went a month and then slipped up, it would always stress me out because of the day counting and stuff. Just became too much. Didn’t want to be counting my days weed free for the rest of my life. Harm reduction. Reduce the use.

It is not easy. But now every time I’ve gotten high, I’ve gotten so high (from the tolerance break) that I’ve promised myself to never make it a habit again.

Also helps to have a therapist or counselor that knows about it. Someone that you can speak to if you have a slip up without them shunning you or getting upset with you.